Marine Mammals: Is the Bahía Blanca Estuary and Its Area of Influence Important for Their Conservation?

Understanding the role of marine mammals in marine ecosystems provides a context to assess the potential effect of depredation on their prey populations and the structure of communities. Moreover, it helps to figure out the impacts that prey populations suffer from fisheries and other anthropic activities. This understanding can help to foster a rational discussion for marine mammals’ conservation and management. In this chapter, we will discuss the role of marine mammals as apex predators and how they interact with the marine ecosystems. We will also present the recordings of marine mammals in the estuarial waters of Bahia Blanca and surrounding areas. Due to the importance of this zone for the human activities that in many cases affect directly or indirectly these mammals, we will review – on a global scale – what is known so far about the consequences of local marine mammals’ exposure to anthropogenic disturbances such as pollutants, shipping traffic, fishing, and marine debris, among others.