Recreational boating as a potential stressor of coastal striped dolphins in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea.

Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) is the most abundant cetacean species in the western Mediterranean Sea. Coastal populations are locally exposed to intense recreational boating, a growing activity over the last thirty years. Dedicated boat surveys carried out since 1988 (13,896 km of effort), enabled to map relative abundance for two periods, 1988-2003 and 2004-2019, which evidenced a significant decrease of habitat use in the inshore part of study area.