Is the Amazon river dolphin endangered?

The Amazon river dolphin is endangered, and the leading assessments agree. The IUCN Red List classifies it as Endangered, under criteria A2acd+3cd+4acd, assessed on 21 June 2018.¹ Brazil's ICMBio assessed it as Endangered (EN) in a category dated 18 May 2018, because it suspects the population has fallen by 50% or more across 3 generations, 69 years, counted from the year 2000.^2,6

The listing has moved a long way. The IUCN had the genus as Vulnerable in 1996, changed it to Data Deficient in 2008 because information on threats and numbers was limited, and raised it to Endangered once better data arrived.⁷ ICMBio's history shows a national assessment of Endangered in 2014 and a global Data Deficient in 2010, and the species appears on Brazil's official national lists issued in 2014, 2022 and 2026.^8,9 A species that moves from unknown to threatened is not a species in comfortable shape.

There is a catch worth knowing. ICMBio's own page warns that a category shown in its system may not reflect the official list, which is set by the current ordinance.² For a traveller the practical message is the same either way: treat the pink dolphin as a threatened animal and plan any encounter around that fact. It is a message that a tour company should be able to repeat back to you.

The strongest driver is a fishery. Since around the year 2000, boto carcasses have been used as bait to catch the piracatinga, a scavenging catfish, in a fishery that expanded rapidly.^33,34 The IUCN ranks this as probably the gravest threat from human activity, with drowning in monofilament nets a likely cause of widespread deaths as well.³ Estimates of dolphins killed range from 300 a year in the Tefé area to more than 4,000 a year for the whole state of Amazonas.²⁷

The scale is striking. In Tefé, researchers estimated at least 176 deaths in 2010 from interactions with fisheries, ICMBio says up to 7,000 botos a year were killed before the moratorium, and INPA gave a range of 2,500 to 4,000 a year.^35,22,36 Close to 1,200 tons of piracatinga went from Brazil to Colombia each year, and the fish was also sold in Brazilian cities under the name douradinha.³⁷

The response came in 2014, when the environment and fisheries ministries set a moratorium banning the fishing, landing, transport and sale of piracatinga for 5 years from 1 January 2015.¹⁰ Colombia announced a permanent ban on trade of the fish within its borders in August 2017, after finding high mercury levels in it.³⁸ Yet the IUCN says there is evidence that the activity continues despite the 2015 ban, which is why the species is still falling.¹¹

Several layers of protection exist. All cetaceans are protected from hunting by Brazilian federal law no. 7,643 of 1987, and a decree of 2008 bans intentionally harassing cetaceans, with a fine of BRL 2,500.^28,45 The National Action Plan for the Conservation of Amazonian Aquatic Mammals, approved by ICMBio ordinance no. 19 of 2019, covers the boto, and ICMBio recommends conserving the aquatic habitats linked to river banks, regulating tourism and policing fishing.^29,32

Protected areas help as well. Among the protected areas of Amazonas where ICMBio lists the species are the Lago do Tupé reserve and Anavilhanas National Park, both close to Manaus.⁴⁶ The IUCN adds that national assessments in several range states have classed the species as Endangered and that national action plans exist for Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia.⁴⁷ Amazonas has its own rule on boto tourism as well, though the sources used here do not give its text.³⁰

Enforcement is the weak link. On feeding, the legal picture is thin: nothing in Brazilian law specifically forbids feeding wild animals inside conservation units, though some units write a ban into their own rules.⁴⁸ INPA's laboratory said in 2015 that 4 other platforms ran boto contact without hours or information, and with its partner it opened a model platform in Iranduba, 80 km from Manaus.^49,50 If you want to know the rules of a platform, ask the operator for them in writing.