Episode 6 : Kratie, Cambodia

It's the final challenge for our team as they head to Cambodia in search of the elusive Irrawaddy river dolphin. With less than a hundred of the dolphins left in the Cambodian stretch of the Mekong River, the team has to find a way to alert both locals and tourists to the seriousness of their plight. They need to rope in the help of the local Buddhist temple and find an innovative way of spreading the word to tourists. With everyone feeling the pressure of the last few weeks, the team has to muster all their creative energy to get them through.

Irrawaddy River Dolphins fast facts

• The Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphin population is very small, currently estimated at around only 100 individuals
• Since the filming of Planet Action ended ten dolphins have been found dead, three in December and seven in January
• Eight of the dolphins found dead were babies. Although the precise reason is not known, this is suspected to be caused by some form of environmental pollution. Studies are ongoing as to what this could be.
• The dolphins spend a significant proportion of their life in deep water pools along the river. In the wet season they can travel quite long distances but in the dry season they tend to remain in particular ‘deep pools’
• At present, the biggest threat to Irrawaddy dolphins is accidental catch in a particular type of fishing net, called a gillnet.
• The dolphins get caught because their ‘deep pools’ are also where many of the fish live – therefore the ‘pools’ are good fishing spots.
• A crucial part of river dolphin conservation work is to help develop alternative livelihoods for local people and training in how to make sure the alternative livelihoods are long term.
• Rapid and poorly planned dolphin watching tourism development is also beginning to threaten the survival of the species.
  

Rob Shore - WWF Mekong Dolphin Project Manager

		Rob studied marine biology at Port Erin Marine Laboratory, which is part of the University of Liverpool, on the Isle of Man, then moved slightly sideways becoming an aquatic biologist working in rivers and freshwater ecosystems. He’s responsible for the overall running of WWF’s Mekong Dolphin project which ranges from solving day-to-day issues to finding the money to keep the project going. Rob thinks one of the most positive aspects of the Dolphin Project is the fact that it’s geared towards sustainability. The staff work closely with local communities and government agencies to develop solutions and approaches that hopefully, one day, will make the project self-sustaining.
The challenge working with so many different groups of people who have different needs and, sometimes, views is to find a fair and equitable solution to problems, which usually involves all sides making some degree of compromise. Rob says WWF’s unique role in helping to protect the Irrawaddy dolphins is that it works in all six countries through which the Mekong River flows. Rob’s most outstanding memory during the filming of Planet Action was the frustration of the film crew to find a quiet location. He says that despite being in a remote corner of Cambodia, it’s very difficult to be totally alone on the Mekong with a group of children, a boat chugging by or a rooster never far away!

Project update

Since the Planet Action team left Kratie in August 2005 a further 14 Mekong Irrawaddy dolphins have died. The vast majority of these deaths have been very young calves and the project urgently needs to uncover and tackle the cause of these deaths, suspected to be some form of pollution. Laboratory tests of tissue samples are ongoing to try and identify the culprit. Only two of the deaths are known to have been caused by accidental capture in fishing nets, and while this is still too many, it does give an indication that the project may be beginning to have an impact on this problem. On a positive note, the walls painted by the Planet Action team have survived the onslaught of the rainy season well and are a popular feature at the Kampi Pool tourist visiting site. Provincial tourism figures show a 30% increase in visitors to Kampi in 2005, providing a much needed boost to dolphin conservation and the local economy.

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