Saturday, October 11, 2008

Good News for the Irrawaddy Dolphin

After a five-year study, started in 2003 by the Wildlife Conservation Society (based in the Bronx Zoo in New York) and the Bangladesh Cetacean Diversity Project, a new Irrawaddy Dolphin research program has found a population of 5,832 of the light-grey dolphins living in the waters along the coast of Bangladesh. This is an incredibly uplifting discovery, considering that in most other places where Irrawaddy dolphins are found, their populations are all estimated to be under 100.



In recent years the Irrawaddy dolphin has been fighting an extremely hard, uphill battle to survive as a species. They're listed on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered animals, but whether or not this new discovery will change the dolphin's conservation status will depend on several factors, as numbers alone do not necessarily mean that a species is out of the woods. In a region of the world wrought with major pollution problems, the Irrawaddy dolphin still faces heavy challenges. Hopefully this discovery will spark Bangladesh's coastal communities' interest and help motivate people to take advantage of the chance to save these beautiful and unique aquatic mammals.

While the Irrawaddy dolphin is legally protected from being hunted, their coastal range includes many areas too remote to enforce, and they are still killed for both their oil and their meat. Gillnets, a fishing net used by many people in the area, also pose a threat, as entanglement often results in death. And when nets are spread across river channels, populations become fragmented, resulting in a further decline of their numbers. It is mainly human interference that poses the greatest threat to the Irrawaddy dolphin's chance of survival, but it is human intervention that can also turn the tide.

The decline of the Irrawaddy dolphin reflects a relationship between society and wildlife that can be seen all over the world. The old ways of socioeconomic and political priorities shelving wildlife and the environment for quick profits based on outdated production methods are in dire need of being replaced by sustainable practices. While people still need to eat and find ways to support their families, with enough prodding and cooperation we should be able to motivate our governments to work in collaboration to adopt safe practices that look towards the future health of our ecosystems and the living creatures they provide homes for.

The recent findings of the 5,832 Irrawaddy dolphins in the coastal waters and estuaries of Bangladesh should be viewed as an invigorating and inspiring new opportunity to correct mistakes. They're not as close to extinction by our hands as we thought. Let us never allow them to get to that point in the future.

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