Abstract

Types of fisheries and exploitation of small cetaceans in Argentinian waters are reviewed. During the study period, live-captures included five specimens of Cephalorhynchus commersonii for Germany, while eight of Tursiops truncatus and one Orcinus orca are held in two aquaria in Argentina. No directed take was reported. Incidental captures took place in nets for shrimp, anchovy and other fish, both in coastal and off-shore waters. Shore based, fixed-net fisheries in Tierra del Fuego, those most investigated by researchers, took 71-167 C. commersonii, 2-22 Lagenorhynchus australis and possibly 3 Australophocaena dioptrica. Similar one-man shore fisheries in southern Santa Cruz province were investigated on two occasions: the combined take at two localities in 1983 was eight: in 1986, 18 specimens of C. commersonii were found on the beach at six localities. These numbers are probably low due to a lack of trained observers.