A Seventh Baby Dolphin Is Spotted in the Mekong River
A new Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphin calf was seen on Sept. 2. Photo: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries / Facebook
- By Teng Yalirozy
- September 2, 2023 6:00 PM
PHNOM PENH — A new Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphin calf was seen on Sept. 2, bringing to seven the number of baby dolphins spotted in 2023 while three dolphins were found dead this year.
The newborn was spotted at 12:20 p.m. among a herd of about eight adult dolphins near Koh Chruem village, in Siem Bouk district’s O’Mareas commune in Stung Treng province by teams of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Fisheries Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries that are currently working on a census of the dolphin population.
During two hours of observing the group, no harmful behavior on the part of the adult dolphins was observed toward the newborn, the Fisheries Administration said on the ministry’s Facebook page.
So far this year, seven baby dolphins have been identified, and this in February, April, June, July, August and September. Among them one died in March, one in June and a third one in August, bringing the number of dolphins so far to 92.
A new dolphin population tally is to be carried out by October 2023 by WWF and the ministry’s Fisheries Administration.
According to WWF, 11 dolphins perished in 2022, increasing the three-year total of dolphin deaths to 29.
More than 70 percent of the Mekong dolphin population is over 20 years old, making them incapable of breeding. Irrawaddy dolphins have a life expectancy of 27 to 30 years.
The Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin is listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species.
In February 2023, Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a decree designating 120 kilometers of the Mekong River as a protected zone where fishing is prohibited.
However, in April 2023, he revoked the directive because thousands of fishing families were adversely affected while dolphins kept dying. Small-scale fishing is now allowed in the protected area, but large-scale fishing and electrofishing are still prohibited.
