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The Mekong Dolphin Conservation Project conducts a
number of projects to raise awareness about Irrawaddy dolphins and
develop local level conservation and management initiatives:
Public Awareness Raising
Community Development
Managing Eco-Tourism
Capacity Building
Government
Partnerships and Conservation Strategies
Explaining the dolphin folklore poster to the local communities |
MDCP began a public education and awareness program in 2003 to emphasis the importance of the dolphins and the riverine habitat.
Posters
In early MDCP produced a poster in Khmer and English outlining the folklore of the Mekong River Dolphin. The poster aimed to re-iterate local values of the dolphins as a human re-incarnation.
San San the Mekong Dolphin Colouring Book
In mid 2003 MDCP published and distributed 6000 copies of “San San the Mekong River Dolphin – A Colouring story book for children”.
A local monk with a completed calendar |
Calendars
Community participation in the process of data collection has been facilitated by the distribution of 17 calendars throughout the Cambodian Mekong River section. The calendars were used by local villagers to document dolphin occurrence in river areas adjacent to where they were lived. This information is then collated by MDCP
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In 2004, MDCP began collaborating with the Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT), to provide rural development in exchange for the communities co-operation with conservation activities. This project has been conducted in three villages adjacent to dolphin critical areas in the upper cambodian Mekong River. The intial results from these pilot projects have been very encouraging.
In addition, a project funded by the British Embassy, Phnom Penh was initiated in January 2003, in an attempt to diversify livelihoods through dolphin-watching eco-tourism. This project has resulted in six village level-workshops and one Kratie line-department workshop to discuss dolphin conservation and potential options for diversification of livelihoods.
Irrawaddy dolphins are an integral part of the Mekong River system and many local people (both Khmer and Lao) have strong beliefs and folklore about the dolphins. These beliefs afford some cultural protection to assist conservation efforts, where the majority of local people do not want to harm or catch dolphins.
Community fisheries management programs to conserve dolphin habitats would also ultimately benefit the local fishermen and communities. It is hoped that these programs would increase fish stocks and also reduce by-catch of dolphins through sustainable fishing practices. Such programs have already been initiated by a local Cambodian NGO, Community Aid Abroad.
A future emphasis should be to conduct socio-economic surveys of villages surrounding critical dolphin habitats. This will provide essential data towards developing potentially effective conservation and management initiatives and providing baseline data regarding various socio-economic aspects of the village. A series of meetings in each of the critical villages were conducted in 2004, to introduce the socio-economic surveys and disseminate results of the MDCP to date.
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Information boards at Kampi Pool in both Khmer and English |
Dolphin-watching tourism is becoming increasingly
popular at Kampi Pool, Kratie Province and Chiteal Pool on the
Lao/Cambodian border.
MDCP has produced information boards for tourists at
the Kampi Pool viewing site, in association with Monsoon Tours,
Cambodia and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Society. The content of these information boards can be found at
www.mekong-dolphin.com
Brochures were developed in 2004 (English and khmer), describing biological facts about the mekong dolphins, threats and the importance of not disturbing their natural habitst.
If conducted in a controlled manner dolphin-watching
tourism could provide significant and long-term financial benefit to
local communities throughout the upper Cambodian Mekong region,
including areas of Stung Treng Province.
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Department of Fisheries counterparts interviewing a fisher along
the Mekong River |
The MDCP works collaboratively with the Cambodian
Department of Fisheries to conduct training and build the capacity of
its local staff.
Throughout 2003, one full-time Department of Fisheries
counterpart and six part-time Kratie/Stung Treng Department of
Fisheries counterparts worked with the MDCP. Project counterparts developed a wide
variety of skills including, cetacean research survey protocol,
interview techniques, public education and awareness, data entry and
initial analyses, stranding recovery and necropsy and conservation
initiatives and activities.
The local survey team has also begun to conduct
rigorous and comprehensive surveys independently, which will
significantly aid future conservation activities and monitoring of the
remaining Irrawaddy dolphin population that inhabits the Mekong River.
The MDCP has also supervised two local university
students from Pre Liep University to conduct their graduate thesis on
dolphins, the riverine habitat and conservation. Both graduated
successfully and one now works full-time with the MDCP.
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In late 2003, the MDCP established an office within
the Kratie Fisheries Office. The office allows the centralization of
all data collection and analysis relating to the Mekong dolphin
population.
In addition, as part of Ms. Beasley's PhD with James Cook University, MDCP developed the "Mekong Dolphin Conservation and Management Plan", that has subsequently been adopted as national policy in Cambodia.
MDCP is currently working to encourage regional
co-operation with Lao and Vietnamese authorities in Mekong dolphin
conservation and protection.
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