Dusky dolphins are known to be taken directly in the multi-species small cetacean fisheries of Peru and Chile. An expanded directed fishery for dolphins and porpoises may have started in Peru after the demise of the anchoveta fishery in 1972. Although most dusky dolphins are taken in the directed net fishery they are also taken by a harpoon fishery (Brownell and Cipriano, 1999). It has been calculated that the fishing industry from just one port kills more than 700 dusky dolphins each year.

Large catches (approximately 10,000) of small cetaceans were reported from the coastal waters of central Peru in 1985 (Read et al., 1988). In the 1991-1993 period, an estimated 7,000 dusky dolphins were captured per year, a level thought to be unsustainable. Of 722 cetaceans captured mostly in multi-filament gillnets and landed at Cerro Azul, central Peru, in 87 days during January- August 1994, 82.7% were dusky dolphins. The total kill estimate for a seven- month period, stratified by month, was 1,567 cetaceans. Data collected at 16 other ports showed that high levels of dolphin and porpoise mortality persisted in coastal Peru at least until August 1994. It is believed, but not confirmed, that this level of exploitation has diminished since dolphin hunting was banned by law in 1996, due in part to depletion of the regional population (Van Waerebeek and Würsig 2002). The current level of takes is unknown. The absence of abundance data precludes any assessment of impact on subpopulations (Van Waerebeek et al. 1997).

In New Zealand, some dusky dolphins are entangled in gill nets. Incidental mortality at one fishing port was estimated to be 100 to 200 animals per year (Jefferson et al. 1993). The highest rates of incidental catches off the Patagonian coast mostly occur in mid-water trawling for shrimp. At present, this fishery is declining in use, but in 1984, it reached a peak and the number of dolphins caught was estimated at between 442-560, decreasing during the following years. Mortality estimates for 1994 reached a minimum value of 36 dolphins per year, mostly females and young adults. Thus, incidental mortality during 1984-86, would have led to a maximum annual mortality close to 8% of the present estimated regional population size. The effect would have been severe, considering that the catches affected mostly females of the highest reproductive value (Dans et al. 1997).

Incidental mortality in mid-water trawls off Patagonia in the mid-1980s was estimated at 400–600 dolphins per year, primarily females, declining to 70–215 in the mid-1990s (Dans et al. 1997). Several hundred continue to die each year in various types of fishing gear off Argentina (Crespo et al. 2000). The estimated annual incidental kill of dusky dolphins in fishing gear around New Zealand was within the range of 50–150 during the mid-1980s (Würsig et al. 1997).