02-29-2012, 08:18 AM
This one is for my Coastie, your amazing Sue!
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia --
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) Three Cambodia ministries on Wednesday jointly
proposed regulating fishing in part of the Mekong River to protect the
endangered Irrawaddy dolphin.
The head of the semi-official Commission for Mekong Dolphin Conservation said
the tourism, agriculture and transportation ministries will submit a decree to
Cambodia's Cabinet limiting fishing activity along a 180-kilometer (112-mile)
stretch of the river.
Touch Sieng Tana said the rule would not prohibit all fishing, but would ban
the use of floating houses, fish cages and gill nets, the large, almost
invisible nets that entangle all sorts of aquatic life.
Touch Sieng Tana said he expects the Cabinet to adopt the rules in the next
few weeks.
His commission believes there are up to 180 dolphins living in Cambodia's
portion of the Mekong River, but the conservation group WWF-Cambodia estimates
there are only 85. While the International Union for Conservation of Nature
considers the worldwide population of the dolphin estimated at more than 7,000,
concentrated in Bangladesh to be "vulnerable," the subgroup in Cambodia is
considered critically endangered.
"Banning or significantly restricting the use of gill nets in the dolphin
habitat is essential if dolphins are to survive in the Mekong River," Gordon
Congdon, freshwater conservation manager of WWF-Cambodia, said in an emailed
statement. "Gill nets are a major threat to dolphins in many parts of the world
and similar efforts to protect dolphins by reducing gill net use are under way
around the world."
To try to reduce the threat from fishing, Cambodia in 2007 launched a
$700,000 plan in cooperation with the World Tourism Organization to increase
awareness among villagers and persuade some to abandon fishing for tourism
jobs.
WWF-Cambodia has also charges that pollution from pesticides and industrial
waste has been killing the dolphin population.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia --
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) Three Cambodia ministries on Wednesday jointly
proposed regulating fishing in part of the Mekong River to protect the
endangered Irrawaddy dolphin.
The head of the semi-official Commission for Mekong Dolphin Conservation said
the tourism, agriculture and transportation ministries will submit a decree to
Cambodia's Cabinet limiting fishing activity along a 180-kilometer (112-mile)
stretch of the river.
Touch Sieng Tana said the rule would not prohibit all fishing, but would ban
the use of floating houses, fish cages and gill nets, the large, almost
invisible nets that entangle all sorts of aquatic life.
Touch Sieng Tana said he expects the Cabinet to adopt the rules in the next
few weeks.
His commission believes there are up to 180 dolphins living in Cambodia's
portion of the Mekong River, but the conservation group WWF-Cambodia estimates
there are only 85. While the International Union for Conservation of Nature
considers the worldwide population of the dolphin estimated at more than 7,000,
concentrated in Bangladesh to be "vulnerable," the subgroup in Cambodia is
considered critically endangered.
"Banning or significantly restricting the use of gill nets in the dolphin
habitat is essential if dolphins are to survive in the Mekong River," Gordon
Congdon, freshwater conservation manager of WWF-Cambodia, said in an emailed
statement. "Gill nets are a major threat to dolphins in many parts of the world
and similar efforts to protect dolphins by reducing gill net use are under way
around the world."
To try to reduce the threat from fishing, Cambodia in 2007 launched a
$700,000 plan in cooperation with the World Tourism Organization to increase
awareness among villagers and persuade some to abandon fishing for tourism
jobs.
WWF-Cambodia has also charges that pollution from pesticides and industrial
waste has been killing the dolphin population.
Let God lead the way!
Give a man a fish he eats for one day, teach him to fish he eats forever!
Give a man a fish he eats for one day, teach him to fish he eats forever!
