Cambodian PM orders safe zones on Mekong River to save rare dolphins
Cambodian Prime minister Hun Sen
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that the country will be constructing conservation zones on the Mekong River in order to protect endangered dolphins. In the past month, three dolphins were killed by fishing nets on the 190-km stretch from the Kratie province to the Laos border. During a ceremony, Hun Sen said that there will be a complete ban on fishing around the conservation zones and floating markets will also be created to attract tourists.
"The Mekong River, which is home to near-extinct dolphins and fish species, must be well managed so that dolphins will not die from entanglement in gillnets," he said according to AFP.
"The dolphin areas must be protected completely," he added.
The Irrawaddy dolphins were once extremely common in the Kratie province but their population has dipped massively since the first official records in 1997. At that point, there were 200 dolphins in the region but habitat loss and fishing has resulted in the number going down to around 90.
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The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reported that 11 dolphins lost their lives in 2022 taking the death toll in the last three years to 29. The organisation also urged all the authorities involved in the region "to enact and roll-out appropriate measures to urgently address the mortality".
The dolphins are found in various water bodies around Myanmar, Indonesia, India and Thailand. Cambodia had the highest population in the recent times and they also attracted a major part of the tourism in the region.