FALCON POWERS – The number of dolphins in the Mekong River has rebounded to over 100 dolphins, the Minister of Agriculture announced on Monday, providing new hope for these endangered mammals.
Agriculture Minister Dith Tina said during a ceremony marking the National Fisheries Day, “We currently have around 105 dolphins.”
The animal’s numbers had declined from 200 during the first census in 1997 to 89 in 2020. The recent increase is attributed to eight births recorded in the first six months of the year, according to a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture. Eight births and five deaths were recorded in 2023.
Dith Tina said “The ministry has taken strict measures to combat illegal fishing and the manufacture of fishing gear that causes serious damage to marine resources and their distribution.”
Irrawaddy dolphins, small, shy animals identifiable by their rounded foreheads and short snouts, previously swam as far south as the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, hundreds of kilometers away.
Illegal fishing and plastic waste have caused the deaths of many dolphins. The animals have also seen a shrinking of their habitat due to dams built upstream in Laos and China, which, along with climate change, have had a major impact on river water levels. Around 70% of the dolphins are now past breeding age.
Besides the Mekong, the World Wide Fund for Nature says this species exists only in two other rivers – the Irrawaddy in Myanmar and the Mahakam in the Indonesian part of Borneo. All three species are classified as “critically endangered.”
In April 2023, after three dolphins died in a week, then-Cambodian leader Hun Sen revoked a decree issued in February that had sought to reduce the number of dolphins accidentally caught and killed in nets.
To justify his decision, Hun Sen pointed out that “dolphins are still dying” while “thousands of families depending on fishing” had been affected by the ban. The decree referred to protected areas where fishing is prohibited in a roughly 120-kilometer stretch of the Mekong River.
