WWF Blame Pollution For Dolphin Deaths

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WWF – Pollution pushing Cambodia’s Irrawaddy dolphin to extinction

The WWF is reporting that pollution in South East Asia’s Mekong River has pushed the fresh water dolphins in Cambodia and Laos to the brink of extinction. The conservation report has been met with fierce denials from the Cambodian government and calls for the WWF to leave the area.

On the brink of extinction

The WWF say that there are as few as 64 to 76 Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong and blame the toxic levels of mercury, pesticides and other pollutants for the deaths of more than 50 calves that have died since 2003.

The conservation organisation that has been investigating the source of these environmental contaminants and examining how they entered the river, says they suspect the high levels of mercury are due to gold mining activities.

“These pollutants are widely distributed in the environment and so the source of this pollution may involve several countries through which the Mekong River flows,” said Verne Dove, WWF veterinary surgeon in a press statement.

Dove further added that the remaining Irrawaddy dolphins of the Mekong River are in urgent need of a health care programme to counteract the damage done to their immune systems.

Denial and accusations

In response to the WWF’s finding the Cambodian government has angrily disputed the agencies findings, accusing the report of being based upon flawed research methodology. Government officials responsible for the country’s Irrawaddy dolphins allege there to be “about 150-160” dolphins left in the Mekong.

“It’s big trouble — they (the WWF) should resign. They should leave Cambodia,” said Touch Seang Tana, chairman of Cambodia’s Commission to Conserve Mekong River Dolphins and Develop Eco-tourism.

“They published this without consulting me, and I’m the authority here,” he said, he also added that he did not believe the river contained the pollutants listed in the WWF’s report.

Another risk for the Irrawaddy dolphin highlighted in the WWF report is inbreeding resulting from such low population numbers. It is thought that this may have been a contributing factor to the weak immune systems of the young dead dolphins, all of which were under two weeks old.

“The Mekong River dolphins are isolated from other members of their species and they need our help,” said WWF Cambodia country director Seng Teak, adding the mammals “can show remarkable resilience” if their habitat is protected.

The dolphin and the river

The Mekong River flows through Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan, once home to thousands of Irrawaddy dolphins , the species was listed as critically endangered in 2004.

The dolphin inhabits a 190-kilometer stretch of water in Cambodia and Laos where it is considered to be a sacred animal. Despite this numbers have dramatically dropped due to the use of illegal fishing nets and Cambodia’s long civil conflict, under which dolphin blubber was used to lubricate machine parts and fuel lamps.

In recent years the Cambodian government has been promoting dolphin watching as a form of ecotourism in the region and cracked down on the use of illegal fishing nets. It hopes that these measures alongside establishing protecting areas will lead to an increase in their numbers over the next few years.

The Irrawaddy dolphin population of Cambodia is thought to be the largest surviving group of Irawaddy dolphins, the Mekong river being one of only five habitats in the world that supports the species. Resembling a porpoise more than salt water dolphins the species congregates in a only a small number of the Mekong’s deep water pools.

The largest inland fishery in the world the Mekong River produces 2.5 million tonnes of fish every year worth over 2 billion dollars. The river is also the provider of 80% of the animal protein for the 60 million people that live alongside its lower basin.

Cambodia threatens to suspend WWF after dolphin report

Jun 24, 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian official Wednesday threatened to suspend the operations of an international wildlife group after it released a report claiming an endangered dolphin species was at risk of extinction due to pollution in the Mekong River.

Touch Seang Tana, chairman of Cambodia's Commission for Conversation and Development of the Mekong River Dolphins Eco-Tourism Zone, said World Wildlife Foundation (WFF) investigators faced suspension unless they met with him to discuss their report.

The WFF report released last week said 88 dolphins had died since 2003 and researchers had found toxic levels of pesticides and environmental contaminants in their analysis of Irrawaddy dolphin calves.

'This report simply is not true,' Touch Seang Tana told a press conference. 'These findings were reported without consultation with me, so I sent a letter to the WFF to come and meet with me to clarify these points.'

He denied that dolphin deaths were caused by pollution and said the report put Cambodia's burgeoning eco-tourism sector at risk.

'A few deaths have been caused by dolphins becoming trapped in fishing nets in the Mekong River, but it was not due to pollution,' he said. 'I wrote to the WFF to clarify this and if they do not wish to meet with me to discuss this, then their operations in the area could be suspended.'

The report estimated that between 64 and 76 dolphins remained in the 160-kilometre stretch of the Mekong that runs through Laos and Cambodia.

It said 60 per cent of the 88 deaths had occurred in dolphin calves less than two weeks old.

Cambodia Rejects CNN, WWF Reports about Mekong Dolphin

2009-06-24
Xinhua

The office of the council of ministers of Cambodian on Wednesday rejected the report from CNN and WWF that Mekong dolphin in Cambodia is facing risk of extinction from pollution and devastating threat from proposed dams.

CNN broadcast worldwide last week about Mekong dolphin quoted the wrong report from WWF (World Wild Fund) on the risk of extinction of Cambodia's Mekong dolphin, said Touch Seang Tana, chairman of Cambodia's Commission for Conservation and Development of the Mekong River Dolphins Eco-tourism Zone.

"They are discrediting the Cambodian government and are looking down my institution," he told reporters in a press conference, adding that WWF want to gain more fund from donors for their project by reporting dolphin in brink of extinction.

He said "Up to now, we have about 150-160 Mekong dolphins in Cambodia in total but the WWF's report said it has 64-76 dolphins. Each year, we gained 10 baby dolphins and since 2003, the population has suffered 91 deaths not 88 like WWF's report."

"The WWF's report did not implement scientific research," he said.

Most dolphins died of fishing net from local fishermen and explosion devices for local people to catch fish. They did not die from pollution, DDT, pesticide or dams, he said.

Meanwhile, he said that Cambodia has fishery law, if people kill dolphin, they will be punished. Local people understand about benefit of dolphin and we have deployed our officials to conserve dolphins, Touch Seang Tana said, adding that local people have never eaten dolphin because the body of dolphin is like female human being.

CNN (report) is destroying the benefit of the poor who live near the tourism area of dolphin shelters in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces of Cambodia, he said. Moreover, its report would also impact the tourism sector of Cambodia and the job opportunity of local people.

"Each year, the dolphin tourism zone absorbed about 20,000 foreign tourists and about 100,000 local tourists," Touch Seang Tana said. "We will invite the experts from WWF to clarify with us. "

At the same time, he said that Cambodia needs electricity to fill the local demand. "But if we build hydropower plants, we will balance the development and conservation of the natural resources like dolphin," he added.

WWF Cambodia country director Seng Teak was not available for making comment and Tep Nasnarith, spokesman of WWF, also could not comment immediately.

Cambodia rejects report of Mekong River dolphins

Sunday, June 21, 2009
ZeeNews.com (India)

Phnom Penh, June 20: The Cambodian government has rejected as "a total lie" the report by an international conservation group that dolphins living in parts of the Mekong River between Cambodia and Laos are on the brink of extinction due to pollution.

The report by the World Wide Fund for Nature was aimed at attracting and convincing donors to inject more funds into the group, Chairman of Commission for Conservation and Development of the Mekong River Dolphin and eco-tourism Touch Seang Tana, told Kyodo News.

Inhabiting a 190-kilometer stretch of the river, the Irrawaddy dolphin population has suffered 88 deaths since 2003, of which 58 were calves under 2 weeks old, bringing the latest population to an estimated 64 to 76 members, the WWF said in its report.

WWF researchers found high toxic levels of pesticides such as DDT and environmental contaminants such as PCBs as well mercury after analysing 21 dead dolphins retrieved between 2004 and 2006, the group said.

According to Tana, the number of dolphins instead has increased to 160 from the 120 recorded in 2000.

"There are no such critical pollutants, otherwise, some 50,000 people living along the 200-km stretch of the river and who are using and drinking the water might have died before the dolphins," he said.