A Nigerian conservationist and his team are racing to save the Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii), a shy, mysterious cetacean found in Africa’s coastal waters.
The Atlantic humpback dolphin is known for a raised hump of connective tissue with a small dorsal fin on top, but very little is known about it across its range along Africa’s vast west coast.
Edem Archibong Eniang, executive director of the NGO Biodiversity Preservation Center in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, explains that his team is currently working on a survey to establish the status of the critically endangered atlantic humpback dolphin towards its conservation in Nigeria.
“In a few local communities, BPC has successfully promoted the in-situ conservation of dolphins and manatees using community awareness and conservation education activities targeted at fisher folks who were going to the sea,” he says, adding that conservationists found the majority of fishing communities consider dolphins as fish; hunting and selling them like that to evade the law.
But, Eniang explains, there is hope: some former dolphin hunters now refrain from killing dolphins and are now members of the BPC dolphin guardians who use phones to document dolphins during their fishing activities.
“For example, Mr. Idala Nte Nte of Andoni LGA, Rivers State who has become so passionate about protecting dolphins to the extent of being fondly nicknamed by his community people as Idala Dolphin,” he says.
Eniang explains that the biggest challenges to conservation efforts have included illiteracy lack of awareness and poverty of community members; as well as the NGO’s lack of funding, research tools, equipment and sufficient personnel — nonetheless, there are opportunities for the long-term survival of the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin, as well as other marine species of Nigeria.
“These ‘low hanging fruits’ are viable renewable resources that will positively improve the livelihoods of teeming populations of Nigerians if for example ecotourism based on these species are embarked upon and promoted with researches, sustainable management etc,” he says.
In September 2023, the New England Aquarium’s Marine Conservation Action Fund awarded the BPC a grant for the implementation of an in-situ Dolphin conservation project in southern Nigeria.
Growing Up in Nigeria
Eniang grew up in the village of Mbak Atai, Itam, Itu Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, accompanying his older brother to set traps in the rainforest and wetlands of Itu in his pre-teen years.
Later on, Eniang would observe someone else kill a trapped adolescent chimpanzee, but three months later, he visited Jos Township Zoo and had a revelation.
“There, I encountered a Chimpanzee that danced to disco music almost better than some humans could dance — I was bewildered, astonished and I recalled the Oban chimp,” he says, adding that he would, in that moment, vow never to hunt again but to do everything legitimate to protect wildlife.
“This was the reason I decided to study Forestry and Wildlife in the University,” he says.
Eniang explains that Global South science is critical for the unification of scientific endeavours and knowledge.
“The Earth has become a global village and events of nature including biodiversity are universal and affects all and sundry; the world is running a globalized system whereby international laws, conventions and accord such Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on migratory species and the CITES convention are carefully tailored to serve the whole world,” he says.
Saving Senegal’s Dolphins
Further along the African coast, Diana Seck, a marine biologist from Senegal and research assistant at the African Aquatic Conservation Fund is helping study the Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii) as well.
Seck says that producing the first ever photo identification catalog will help provide information about abundance, distribution, seasonal habitat use, and long-term threat information for the critically endangered dolphin species.
“I’ve been able to identify more than 100 individual dolphins in the Saloum Delta on two survey missions, and I’m sure we’ll be able to identify more with time,” she says, “This is important because we are trying to determine the number of individuals in the population (believed to be the largest anywhere in the species’ range), and to learn more about their behavior and migration patterns.”
Seck began training in boat surveys and photo-identification in 2021 and over time adopted the project and had the opportunity to build it into a Master’s research project.
Seck, who is also a recipient of an Early Career Ocean Professional (ECOP) grant from the New England Aquarium’s Marine Conservation Action Fund (MCAF), says that the greatest opportunity of the project is that other countries in the dolphin’s range can use the photo ID catalog as a template to start their own studies.
