The Cambodian government announced yesterday that it will restrict fishing activities in an area of the Mekong River to protect the Irrawaddy’s freshwater dolphins, which face a high risk of extinction.
The decision to establish an Irrawaddy Dolphin Conservation Area on the Mekong River was approved at a weekly Cambodian government meeting yesterday. It is 180 km long and stretches from Kratie province in eastern Cambodia to the border with Laos, AFP reported.
People are still allowed to fish in the reserve, but the government prohibits the use of houseboats, fish cages and sweeping nets because they threaten the lives of river dolphins.
According to Cambodian government calculations, around 155 to 175 Irrawaddy dolphins live in the Mekong section of Cambodia. But last year, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) identified only 85 Irrawaddy dolphins living in Cambodia.
“The reserve will be used for ecotourism activities and will preserve river dolphins in a sustainable way,” the Cambodian government said.
WWF believes that the use of sweeping nets is the main reason that the number of Irrawaddy dolphins has declined sharply. In addition, the number of Mekong dolphins has declined due to the high mortality rate of piglets and the deterioration of habitat quality.
The Irrawaddy dolphins are distributed in coastal areas of South and Southeast Asia, the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar, and the Mahakam River in Indonesia. They have been on the list of animals in great danger of extinction since 2004.
