Irrawaddy dolphin

Sacred and endangered

The Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) is found in a few locations in South and Southeast Asia. One of 3 exclusively freshwater populations lives in the deep water of the Upper Mekong River between Laos and Cambodia and possibly, the Sekong River.

Cambodian myth
According to Cambodian myth, people believed that the Irrawaddy Dolphin is a fair maiden with the body of a fish.

As the story goes, a beautiful maiden was forced by her parents to marry a magical python but decided to cast herself into the Mekong River. Her suicide bid failed and she was transformed into a dolphin.

Threats
The dolphin is regarded as a sacred animal by both Khmer and Lao, and is rarely hunted and consumed as food by local people.

However, quite often it becomes accidentally entangled in fishing nets. As a result, the population of the Irrawaddy Dolphin, estimated to be as low as 70-100 individuals, is decreasing at an alarming speed. Its habitat is  also vulnerable to dams and other infrastructure development in the area.

Ecotourism development
Nevertheless, the future potential for conservation of the Irrawaddy Dolphin may well lie with ecotourism development.

The good news is that the Cambodian government has already planned to set up a new tourist destination based on dolphin watching in Kratie province besides the unique historical temple of Angkor Wat.

If the plan works well, it is hoped that the economic incomes from tourists will at last protect the last remaining and precarious population of this human-like river dolphin, before it is simply too late.