Within minutes of leaving the banks of the river in a small fishing vessel chartered by the local authority, a slate-blue dorsal fin is spotted breaching the muddy brown waters off the starboard side. A small flotilla of boats quickly converge on the site as tourists and scientists alike try to get a glimpse of the Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), one of the world’s most endangered dolphins.

Today the dolphin watchers are in for a real treat, as several more were sighted during the three-hour-long river cruise.

“I never would have thought I could see such wildlife close to Bangkok,” said an excited Thai woman who came along with her 9-year-old daughter “I never even knew there were dolphins living in these rivers.”

Irrawaddy dolphins inhabit coasts, estuaries and rivers of southern and southeast Asia and northern Australia. They are found in warm shallow coastal waters and sometimes in rivers as far as 1,300 km inland from the sea.

In the Bang Pakong River in Thailand, they appear seasonally at the end of the monsoon rains in November. This year they arrived earlier in October. The dolphins follow the pla duk talae or ‘eel catfish’ (Plotosus canius), a species of catfish that also moves into the estuary at this time, and is their main source of food for the next few months.

Photo © Pete Davidson/WCS

With a characteristically rounded head, no beak and a small triangular shaped dorsal fin with a rounded tip below the center of the back, the Irrawaddy can easily be mistaken for a beluga (toothed whale) or finless porpoise, both of which share similar body shapes.

Unlike their gregarious cousins, the bottlenose dolphins, Irrawaddy dolphins are shy and will not swim alongside boats or humans, and when scared can dive underwater for 12 minutes. They are slow to surface and rarely make any splash with their tail to let you know they are there. This reclusive behaviour makes it difficult for the untrained eye to count exactly how many dolphins are present. But, regardless of the exact number seen each day, there is usually consensus amongst visitors that just seeing one was well worth the trip.

“It was indeed a pleasure to be able to see one up close,” said Dr. Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF’s Global Species Programme who was in Bangkok attending an International Conference on Wildlife Trade “It makes discussions in a conference hall over their fate really come alive.”

While the exact number of Irrawaddy dolphins remaining in the wild today is not known, the largest populations (maybe up to 1,000 individuals) are found in Australia. Smaller populations are found in the Mahakham River on the island of Borneo, in Songkhla Lake in Southern Thailand, in the upper Gulf of Thailand (including the Bang Pakong River) in the Mekong River in Southern Laos and Cambodia, and in a few other scattered locations. Probably none of these populations have more than 100 individuals.

In several places, the Irrawaddy dolphin has been known to develop special relationships with local fishermen. In the Ayeyarwaddy River (after which the species is named), they are reported to help drive fish into nets, in return for a share of the catch. In the Bang Pakong River, the dolphins have a special way of eating catfish to avoid injury from the spiny catfish ‘whiskers’.

Dr Chavalit Vidthayanon of WWF Thailand explains that “One dolphin will seize the fish from the front, holding the fish’s head in the front of its mouth. A second dolphin will then start eating the fish from the tail end. They take it in turns doing this so that all can get their fill of fish. Discarded fish heads can then be found bobbing in the water, and are easily collected by local people”.

It is ironic then, that local fishermen are now the single biggest threat to the continued survival of the Irrawaddy dolphin. Accidental entanglement in fishing gear kills a significant number of dolphins each year. Capture for aquaria is also a considerable threat. There are currently more than 80 dolphinaria in at least nine Asian countries. Over 50 Irrawaddy dolphins have been captured for display since 1974, with at least 12 individuals captured from Thai waters since the 1980s. Although aquarium owners love them because they can be kept in freshwater tanks, they do not normally survive very long after capture Most legitimate zoos and aquariums already refuse to display Irrawaddy dolphins because of their endangered status and because they don’t live long in captivity.

Concern for the Irrawaddy Dolphin received international attention at the recent Conference of the parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which took place from 2-14 October at the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre in Bangkok. Thailand’s proposal to list the Irrawaddy Dolphin under Appendix I of the Convention – thereby banning all international commercial trade in the species, was adopted by the Convention’s Parties.

“We have seen dolphin populations falling… and if we wait for more scientific data to prove that they will become extinct, we would be too late,” said Suwit Khunkitti, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, voicing support for greater protection of the species.

This proposal by Thailand reflects the growing importance being given to coastal conservation. With proper management, local communities will actually see greater economic benefit from the development of dolphin-watching and related ecotourism activities based around conserving dolphins in the wild, rather than capturing them for sale to aquaria.

TIPS AND ADVICE FOR
RESPONSIBLE IRRAWADDY-DOLPHIN WATCHING

• The best time of the day to see the Irrawaddy dolphins is in the morning before 9.00 a.m. when they are most active feeding on the catfish and there is a higher chance of sightings.
• Dolphins are also easier to see at high tide. Later in the day, they seem to spend more time ‘playing’ further out in the bay.
• Keep as quiet as possible. (Boatmen should turn down the engine to a slow idle.)
• Once dolphins have been spotted, boatmen should approach from downstream of the dolphins.
• As responsible tourists, please discourage boatmen from pursuing or chasing the dolphins.
• SWIMMING WITH WHALES AND DOLPHINS
  Whale and dolphin behavior is not thoroughly understood. Experts advise that it is best to observe the animals without entering the water in order to protect yourself and the animals. Please refrain from jumping into the water and/or make attempts to swim with or touch the dolphins.

Text by Mark Schulman, Chavalit Vidthayanon, Robert Mather and Robert Shore, WWF.

GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES
WHALE & DOLPHI N WATCHING ®
© CORAL/ INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE (IFAW)
Please click to view

MAP Meeting Point for the Dolphin-Watching Cruise on the Bang Pakong River

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Contact information:
TAT Central Region Office – Office 8
Responsible for Nakhon Nayok, Sa Kaeo, Prachin Buri and Chachoengsao
Tel: +66 (0) 3731 2282, (0) 3731 2284
Fax: +66 (0) 3731-2286
E-mail: tatnayok@tat.or.th

Tha Kham Municipal Office, Bang Pakong District Moo 1 Pier
Tel: +66 (0) 3857 3434

Mr. Manit Dee-oua, Director of Public Health and Environment Department,
Tha Kham Municipal Office, Bang Pakong District:
Tel: +66 (0) 3857 3411- 2 Ext. 16, 01-7538945

Bangpakong River Tour
Bangpakong Charter Co., Ltd.
Tel: +66 (0) 3851 4333
Mobile phone: 0 9666 4266
Fax: +66 (0) 3851 8881
E-mail: bpkcharter@hotmail.com
Web site: www.bpkcharter.com

Bang Pakong Seafood
Tel: +66 (0) 3857 4019
Mobile phone: 0 7056 6963