The split of Sotalia into two species has conservation relevance. The Tucuxi can be considered the world's only exclusively freshwater delphinid. This endemism jeopardizes its persistence because its restricted habitat is shared with increasing human populations. Tucuxis are vulnerable to threats such as incidental mortality in fisheries, habitat deterioration and fragmentation of populations by dam construction (Reeves at al. 2003). No formal assessment to evaluate the risks of population decline has been performed. Such assessment will require a better understanding of population structure so that population-specific abundance, non-natural mortality rates and other relevant parameters can be estimated and considered. Due to a lack of good data on these parameters, Sotalia fluviatilis is listed as Data Deficient.