Fears for rare dolphins after law scrapped

Cambodian leader Hun Sen has canceled a law he created just two months ago to protect critically endangered Mekong dolphins as the mammals continue to die from illegal fishing activities.

The population of Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong river has dwindled from 200, when the first census was taken in 1997, to just 89 in 2020, largely due to illegal fishing and habitat loss.

Hun Sen issued a decree in February creating protection zones in a 120-kilometer stretch of the Mekong, in which fishing is banned, following the death of three dolphins in a week.

But two dolphins have since died, including a four-day-old calf found dead in fishing nets.

Hun Sen said he decided to cancel the new decree because "dolphins keep dying and thousands of fishing families were affected."

He added: "We want to protect dolphins that are at risk of becoming extinct, but dolphins keep dying.

"Dolphins keep entangling in gillnets despite the ban."

Hun Sen said the law also affected thousands of families who depend on fishing in the Mekong.

"Shall we continue this? We must annul it and let people get benefits from the river," he said.

Hun Sen asked authorities to implement old regulations to ban fishing in parts of the dolphin zones and to crack down on electrofishing.

Eleven dolphins died in 2022, bringing the total to 29 in the past three years, says the World Wildlife Fund.