Rationale
These are widely distributed species across the globe, where the offshore distribution patterns of the Globicephala species do not overlap with many major threats in the assessment region. Although these species are unstudied in the assessment region, based on strandings data, they appear to be relatively common offshore; and, in other parts of the world, increases in population size have been documented. While the general threats outlined for pelagic species could also apply here, there are no known threats that could cause a range-wide decline. However, there are no population size and trend data for the region of assessment and the taxonomy is uncertain, thus these species will need to be re-assessed as new data emerge. Additionally, as both species are deep-diving, they are potentially increasingly threatened by the emerging threats of marine noise and plastic pollution, the effects of which should be monitored. Currently, pilot whales are not conservation priorities within the assessment region as they are globally fairly abundant (for example, 589,000 in the tropical Pacific for G. macrorhynchus; and 750,000 in the North Atlantic for G. melas). Therefore, they are listed as Least Concern.Regional population effects: Pilot whales presumably occur seasonally in South African waters, and although continued research into their seasonal distribution and movements is required, no barriers to dispersal are recognised, thus rescue effects are considered possible.