Public awareness of the Chilean dolphin Cephalorhynchus eutropia within Chilean population

Abstract

Despite the great cetacean diversity in Chilean waters, little information exists on the only species of dolphin endemic to Chile: the Chilean dolphin Cephalorhynchus eutropia. A deficit of scientific research and information available for the general public, in addition to the non-inclusion of endemic species in the school curriculum, suggested that Chilean people were not aware of the existence of the species and its intrinsic value as an endemic species. However, no research has demonstrated this hypothesis. The major research of the academic component of the thesis aimed to: determine Chilean people’s awareness of the existence, appearance and name of their endemic dolphin; measure Chilean people’s interest in obtaining further knowledge on marine mammals and methods in which they would like to learn; and to evaluate how important Chilean people consider marine mammal conservation and their reasons. Also, the book “The Story of the Chilean dolphin” was written as the creative component of this thesis.

The survey was conducted both on-line and in-person to a group in Chiloe, university group, and high school group. In total 1,426 participants answered the survey. Statistically significant differences were recorded by survey group, age and occupation factors. For all questions, participants in the on-line survey group had more chances to respond correctly because of the higher number of participants whose occupations were related to knowledge of animals. Participants between 19 and 60 years old were more likely to answer correctly than older and younger groups.

The results showed that the appearance of the Chilean dolphin as a species that lives only in Chilean waters was not so well known (20.7%) within participants of the survey. The name of the Chilean dolphin as a native species was not so well known (20.8%), and the overall awareness of the Chilean dolphin as a native species was little known with 11.9% of participants answering correctly. Considering only the in-person surveys, the public awareness of the endemic dolphin was unknown, with only 2.2% of participants answering correctly. Complementary research conducted on the coverage of cetaceans in newspaper articles, reinforced the low level of awareness of the Chilean dolphin within the Chilean population.

The majority of participants from the survey were interested to know more about marine mammals, and the three communication methods that they would prefer to use to learn were: documentary or movie, web site, and book or visual guide. Also, nearly one hundred percent of participants considered that marine mammal conservation was important, and the main reasons to conserve marine mammals were ecologic, humanistic and economic reasons.

The information provided by this thesis is a valuable start in trying to evaluate and promote public awareness of the Chilean dolphin within the Chilean population. Results showed that even when Chileans’ knowledge on dolphins is low, people would like to be better informed and cooperate with conservation of marine species. These results are important to demonstrate that further scientific research and efforts to improve the science communication about the species are needed.