The government has issued a sub-decree designating Mekong River Dolphin Management Areas in Stung Treng and Kratie provinces to protect and conserve the freshwater dolphins, while environmental and civil society officials said the sub-decree will make law enforcement more effective and may help increase their number and prevent them from going extinct.
The Global Fund for Nature and World Wide Fund for Nature Cambodia (WWF) have called on authorities to step up night and day patrols of dolphin conservation areas and prevent illegal fishing, as a third Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin carcass was discovered in the span of one week.
To assist the recovery of the Kingdom’s tourism industry which had been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic – following the late 2021 return to normal socio-economic activity – the government, in collaboration with NGOs, is providing technical skills and core training to enhance the sector’s human resource capacity.
A dead Irrawaddy dolphin found on the beach in Koh Trong commune’s Kbal Koh village in Kratie town was handed over to the WWF research team for study and to determine how the animal died, according to Mok Ponlok, director of the Kratie provincial Fisheries Administration.