Sun Mao has been trying to stop the dolphin decline
[The] dream recedes as each dead dolphin washes up on the banks of the MekongWednesday, 9 July 2008
By Guy Delauney
BBC News, Kratie
Sun Mao leans forward in the boat, shades his eyes with his hand, and squints across the wide expanse of the Mekong River where it twists through the town of Kratie.
He is looking for one of the world's rarest mammals - the Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin.
Older people in this part of northern Cambodia talk of how they used to take the dolphins for granted.
Little effort was needed to see them in their dozens. Now, scientists say, there are less than 100 remaining.
National heritage
With a practised eye, Sun Mao spots a group of five dolphins, collectively known as a pod.
They briefly break the surface as they come up for air - grey-brown, bullet-headed and exhaling with an old man's rasp.
It is an awe-inspiring sight, but nothing new to Sun Mao.
As part of a local organisation, the Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT), he has put years of work into preserving the dwindling population.
For him it is an issue of national heritage.
"This is the last place for these dolphins in the world," he says over the clatter of the boat's outboard engine.
"We have to conserve and keep them alive in this river for our next generation."
CRDT has tried to educate the local human population about what they can do.
A government-enforced ban on the use of gill nets - nets set vertically in the water so that fish swim into them and are entangled in the mesh - has cut down the number of dolphins accidentally caught by fishermen.
Instead, CRDT has helped locals to reduce their reliance on fishing by offering alternatives such as poultry farming.
Villagers on Pdao Island, just outside Kratie, greet Sun Mao as an old friend as he clambers up the muddy riverbank.
Tourist influx
They happily show off their CRDT-sponsored chickens, water-pumps and fish ponds, and declare themselves delighted to be part of the dolphin preservation efforts.
It would be a heart-warming tale, if only the statistics were not so brutally depressing.
A scientific survey taken three years ago estimated the dolphin population at 127. The latest study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) puts the figure at 71.
It comes as a devastating blow after all the work that local and international organisations have put in.
As well as banning the use of gill nets, the government has established a network of river guards to patrol the dolphin habitats.
While CRDT has been working with the local human population, WWF scientists have been looking into ways of protecting the dolphins.
Everyone was hoping that the dolphin population would at least stabilise, if not flourish.
Payback would come in the form of an influx of tourists to see the pods at play and bring much-needed revenue to the local economy.
Contaminants
That dream recedes as each dead dolphin washes up on the banks of the Mekong.
Most worryingly, most of the recent casualties have been calves. Without the babies, there is no future for the species.
"There are theories that the immune systems of the dolphins have been compromised by stress," says Richard Zanre, dolphin programme manager for WWF.
"The river environment has been encroached upon by new developments. There is also the problem of contaminants in the river."
The answers need to be found quickly. As it stands, WWF still classifies the remaining population as "sustainable".
If the numbers fall much further, however, there will no longer be enough diversity for the dolphins to breed successfully.
That would spell the end for this unique species.
He is looking for one of the world's rarest mammals - the Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin.
Older people in this part of northern Cambodia talk of how they used to take the dolphins for granted.
Little effort was needed to see them in their dozens. Now, scientists say, there are less than 100 remaining.
National heritage
With a practised eye, Sun Mao spots a group of five dolphins, collectively known as a pod.
They briefly break the surface as they come up for air - grey-brown, bullet-headed and exhaling with an old man's rasp.
It is an awe-inspiring sight, but nothing new to Sun Mao.
As part of a local organisation, the Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT), he has put years of work into preserving the dwindling population.
For him it is an issue of national heritage.
"This is the last place for these dolphins in the world," he says over the clatter of the boat's outboard engine.
"We have to conserve and keep them alive in this river for our next generation."
CRDT has tried to educate the local human population about what they can do.
A government-enforced ban on the use of gill nets - nets set vertically in the water so that fish swim into them and are entangled in the mesh - has cut down the number of dolphins accidentally caught by fishermen.
Instead, CRDT has helped locals to reduce their reliance on fishing by offering alternatives such as poultry farming.
Villagers on Pdao Island, just outside Kratie, greet Sun Mao as an old friend as he clambers up the muddy riverbank.
Tourist influx
They happily show off their CRDT-sponsored chickens, water-pumps and fish ponds, and declare themselves delighted to be part of the dolphin preservation efforts.
It would be a heart-warming tale, if only the statistics were not so brutally depressing.
A scientific survey taken three years ago estimated the dolphin population at 127. The latest study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) puts the figure at 71.
It comes as a devastating blow after all the work that local and international organisations have put in.
As well as banning the use of gill nets, the government has established a network of river guards to patrol the dolphin habitats.
While CRDT has been working with the local human population, WWF scientists have been looking into ways of protecting the dolphins.
Everyone was hoping that the dolphin population would at least stabilise, if not flourish.
Payback would come in the form of an influx of tourists to see the pods at play and bring much-needed revenue to the local economy.
Contaminants
That dream recedes as each dead dolphin washes up on the banks of the Mekong.
Most worryingly, most of the recent casualties have been calves. Without the babies, there is no future for the species.
"There are theories that the immune systems of the dolphins have been compromised by stress," says Richard Zanre, dolphin programme manager for WWF.
"The river environment has been encroached upon by new developments. There is also the problem of contaminants in the river."
The answers need to be found quickly. As it stands, WWF still classifies the remaining population as "sustainable".
If the numbers fall much further, however, there will no longer be enough diversity for the dolphins to breed successfully.
That would spell the end for this unique species.
5 comments:
WOW awesome!!!!!!!!! please take good care of them:))))) our country is beautiful that is why all the the nice mammals are still existed!!!!!!!! love it!
First, congratulation to Sun Mao to have his opinion interviewed BBC staff.
In general, the article is misleading information. It seems that Mr. Sun Mao has done a good job to conserve the priceless fresh water dolphin and to warm reception from People in Koh Pdao. Behind Mr. Sun Mao, there was a team of large young men and women that work their gut out to make those development projects possible but credit goes to other. They left their home town in Cambodia as far as 3-400 km away from their love ones to live and work in those very remote project sites to do all the hard work. Very often, they have to work through national holiday without any compensation.
The works of these young men and women deserve to be congratulated and be reported. They use their people skills to communicate with villagers to make sure that their works will be done. Very often, they have to work night time because during the day villagers are not available to contact. Villagers in Koh Pdao and other project area know them well
What’s about Mr. Mao? He spends most of his times in Phnom Penh to participate in training many of which not even related to his work or CRDT’s work. Nearly ¼ of the project fund is to cover his traveling cost. He listen to no one, take no other staff’s idea, but to himself. He behaves as he is the only one that knows the most, for every thing. He never admits his fault, but blame other staff. He doesn’t like any one who has more knowledge than him. What he has done the most is collating reports which most of them already prepared by his field staff.
Congratulation to Guy Delauney for the misleading report.
Ex staff
They must ban boats to travel at certain areas and establish safe routes for boats to go by. This is critical. We must find solution soon. I am praying for this specy... Like Mao says it is like a national treasure if we value it.
yes, the mekong river dolphin known as "trey p'sort" in the khmer language is like a living national treasure as well. cambodia and the world must do our best to save them from extinction. they are really a unique species of fresh water creature and are very few in the world. please help to save them. god bless cambodia.
Ex staff 3:31! ever understand bureaucracy? leurned to work with other boy!
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