Myanmar applauds Thai Thai proposal to protect dolphins
Myanmar applauds Thai Thai proposal to protect dolphins
Associated Press, Yangon, Myanmar
Myanmar marine experts have applauded a proposal by neighboring Thailand for greater protection for a local species of dolphin at international talks on wildlife trafficking, a semiofficial newspaper reported Sunday.
The move to ban trade in the rare Irrawaddy dolphin is to be presented at the CITES meeting in Bangkok of the 166 countries that have signed the agreement. The meting started on Saturday.
CITES aims to protect about 30,000 plant and animal species, many of them threatened with extinction due to trafficking.
Ending the trade in Irrawaddy dolphins would help ensure the survival of the species and would likely mean Myanmar would receive more funding from international groups for conservation work, The Myanmar Times newspaper quoted marine biologist Tint Tun as saying.
Although the dolphins are named after the Myanmar river where some of them live, they are also found in rivers and coastal areas in Southeast Asia, India and northern Australia.
Wild Irrawaddy dolphins are critically endangered, according to the World Wildlife Fund. They are often caught by traders who sell them to aquariums, particularly in Asia, which seek them for their pleasing appearance and ability to perform tricks.
Tint Tun said Myanmar fishermen and villagers did not kill or trade the dolphins, but that more protection is needed because the mammals face accidental deaths due to entanglement in fishing nets.
The Thai proposal was also welcomed by Mya Than Tun, an official at the Department of Fisheries, who said the dolphin population in the Irrawaddy River was declining.
The latest survey of the dolphin population by the New York- based Wildlife Conservation Society last December estimated that only 59 remain in the river.
Observers say their survival is also threatened by gold mining in the upper part of the river, which causes an accumulation of pebbles, blockage of the river flow by an increasing number of mining vessels, and pollution from mercury used in gold processing.
GetAP 1.00 -- OCT 3, 2004 20:14:49