The Cetaceans of Ghana, a Validated Faunal Checklist

Abstract

The cetaceans of Ghana and the Gulf of Guinea have, until recently, remained unstudied. Periodical monitoring of artisanal fisheries for bycatches in seven Ghanaian artisanal fishing ports and landing sites over 1996-2004 has provided photographic and specimen evidence to validate occurrence of 18 species (17 odontocetes, 1 mysticete) in a tropical, predominantly pelagic cetacean fauna. At least nine species and subspecies had not previously been documented for Ghana (with asterisk), and four species are authenticated for the first time in the Gulf of Guinea (double asterisk), i.e.

Species occurrence of cetaceans in Guinea, including humpback whales with southern hemisphere seasonality

“…No K. breviceps has been encountered in the Gulf of Guinea despite expanding field research (see e.g. Debrah, 2000;Ofori-Danson et al, 2003;Picanço et al, 2009;Van Waerebeek et al, 2009). The Dabondi specimen (see above) represents a 525 km southward extension of the species' known range in the north-eastern Atlantic, but it is unclear if this marks its approximate southern distribution boundary.…”

“…Lack of trained observers, limited port surveillance and few incentives to report illegal landings may be blamed. While there is no evidence for substantial dolphin landings, of the kind seen in Ghana for instance (Debrah, 2000;Ofori-Danson et al, 2003;Van Waerebeek et al, 2009), monitoring should intensify. Fin-fish, mollusc and other marine products may still largely satisfy local demand.…”

Records of kogiid whales in Namibia, including the first record of the dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima)

“…in both the Benguela and Agulhas Current systems), including Namibia and South Africa and from sight-ings in the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean (Ballance & Pitman, 1998;Kiszka et al, 2010). No confirmed records (sightings or strandings) of K. breviceps are available in the Eastern Tropical Atlantic (Gulf of Guinea to Angola), north of Namibia (see Best, 2007;Van Waerebeek et al, 2009;Weir, 2010Weir, , 2011. Kogia sima has to date only been recorded from strandings along the warmer eastern coast of southern Africa, predominantly east of Cape Point (under the influence of the Agulhas Current), as far as the Comoros Islands (Kiszka et al, 2010) and into the Indian Ocean (de Boer et al, 2002).…”

Occurrence and species diversity of delphinids off-Lagos shore, Nigeria

“…However, few studies carried out in the gulf of Guinea have established that the region has a diverse cetacean fauna, which includes at least 28 known species (Van Waerebeek et al, 2009;Weir, 2010). Despite this richness, these areas are poorly studied and historical information about cetaceans in the region comes from whaling activity that dates back to the 19th century when humpback whales and other baleen whales were hunted (Carvalho et al, 2011).…”

“…There is a critical need to investigate the status of dolphin populations and the factors that threaten them in the West African region (IWC, 2010). Information on cetacean distribution plays an important role in the identification of suitable boundaries for marine protected areas, but is also crucial for developing management and monitoring programmes (Van Waerebeek et al, 2009).…”