The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

In Cambodia, the last dolphins of the Irrawaddy are fighting for their survival

2023-03-15T07:00:52.869Z


In the mighty Mekong River suddenly appear the rounded gray heads of a few Irrawaddy dolphins who have come to take their breath at the...


In the mighty Mekong River suddenly appear the rounded gray heads of a few Irrawaddy dolphins who have come to take their breath on the surface of the murky water.

A fascinating spectacle, but increasingly rare, as the mammal, present in a few places in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, is on the verge of extinction despite efforts to save it.

The kingdom recently announced tough measures against fishing in the Mekong to try to reduce the number of dolphins trapped and inadvertently killed in the nets.

But in this poor country, how to enforce these rules on a river several tens of meters wide, dotted with islets and bordered by dense undergrowth?

"

We are afraid of not being able to protect them

," admitted to AFP Phon Pharong, a resident of the Kratie region (east), during a patrol in search of illegal gillnets.

These vertical mesh nets left in the water for long periods of time, catching fish blind, are the main killer of dolphins in the Mekong, according to conservationists.

Precarious guards

Phon Pharong is one of 70 rangers guarding a 120 kilometer stretch of the Mekong between Kratié and the Laotian border to the north.

Understaffed, these watchmen are often reduced to playing cat and mouse with the fishermen, who are well organized, numerous and equipped with better boats.

When we patrol at night, they don't come out.

In the early morning, we go back, and they have the free way on the river

, ”explains Pharong, while many guards have to continue with a job on the ground.

A ranger's basic salary of $65 a month is not enough to live on, although they receive an additional $5 per patrol day from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Population halved in 20 years

The Irrawaddy dolphins, timid little jigs recognizable by their domed foreheads and short noses, once swam as far south as the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, several hundred kilometers to the south.

Illegal fishing and plastic waste have killed many, and dolphins have seen their habitat reduced by dams and climate change, which have had a major impact on water levels in the river.

The population of the Mekong has increased from 200 in the first census in 1997 to 89 in 2020.

According to the WWF, the species is only present in two other rivers, the Irrawaddy in Burma and the Mahakam, on the Indonesian island of Borneo.

All three riverine populations are classified as "

critically endangered

".

There are also Irrawaddy dolphins in greater numbers on some coasts of South and Southeast Asia, but not in fresh waters, and they too are endangered.

Read alsoIn Cambodia, Leakhéna des Pallières, the next generation at the heart of the association For a Child's Smile

Supervised fishing

Eleven Mekong dolphins died last year, but the death of three young individuals caught in gillnets and fishing lines in the space of a week in December has particularly alarmed conservationists.

"

This is a worrying sign

," Seng Teak, WWF's national director for Cambodia, told AFP, calling on the government to "

mobilize more resources

" to save the dolphins, 70% of whose population is too old. to reproduce.

Since the end of February, a new law prohibits all fishing within special protection zones in the 120 km stretch upstream of Kratié.

Violators face up to a year in prison for using gillnets and up to five years for electrofishing in conservation areas.

In one such area, around the village of Kampi, 24 guards are now patrolling around the clock on a small stretch of 22.4 square km.

Those who “

lay nets in conservation areas, we will stop them.

If they do electric fishing, there is no mercy, they will be brought to justice

,” said Mok Ponlork, the local ranger manager.

These efforts seem to be bearing some fruit: there have been no deaths in recent weeks and there is even a glimmer of hope.

"

Tourist boat operators have told us that

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2023-03-15

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-16T08:30:53.749Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.