A unique species of endangered Pacific dolphin off Hawaii are declining at a faster rate than once thought, with the largest distinct population segment expected to drop below 100 individuals by the mid-2030s, according to new NOAA research.
Scientists from NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and other institutions found that between 1999 and 2022, the population of protected dolphins — known as “false killer whales” — shrunk by 3.5 percent annually. That trajectory places the species on a likely path to extinction by midcentury.
Roughly 132 individuals are believed to have lived in the population segment closest to Hawaii’s main islands in 2022, compared to as many as 190 in 2015.
Encounters with fishing vessels accounted for “one of the most significant threats to this population,” the researchers found, along with pollution exposures and reduced genetic diversity.
