File picture of a newborn Irrawaddy dolphin aged about two weeks at Kampi Dolphin Pool on the Mekong River in central Kratie province’s Kampi village on Dec 31, 2022. - WWF-CAMBODIA
PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodia has welcomed two newborn Irrawaddy dolphins so far this year, the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) said in a news release on Tuesday (April 18).
The second dolphin calf was spotted on April 15 while swimming with a group of adult dolphins, as the first one was recorded on March 1. Both calves were found at the Kampi dolphin pool in northeastern Kratie province.
According to the news release, six dolphin calves were registered last year, and the same number was also reported in 2021.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Cambodia congratulated the joint efforts of the MAFF's Fisheries Administration and WWF for this important second new record of the Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin calf in 2023.
"The research team of the Fisheries Administration and WWF are conducting photo identification surveys along the Mekong habitats in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces in order to monitor the dolphins' situation and estimate their population number for 2023," the WWF said in a news release.
The Irrawaddy dolphins have been listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species since 2004.
The Fisheries Administration estimated that there are approximately 90 Irrawaddy dolphin population in the Cambodian portion of the Mekong River in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces.
In February, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a sub-decree on the creation of the dolphin conservation and protection zones covering a 120-km-long stretch of the Mekong River in the two provinces.
"Fishing must be prohibited from the dolphin conservation and protection zones," the sub-decree said.
