A one-month-old calf was among the five Irrawaddy dolphins found dead between Mandalay and Bhamo within the last six months, according to Myanmar’s Fisheries Department.
The body of the female calf was found on June 2, while another one-year-old female calf was reportedly found dead on June 27 at Sein Pan Gone village in Mandalay region’s Madaya township, the department’s Endangered Species Conservation Division told state media.
Villagers spotted four boats using illegal electric shock fishing methods nearby, said the division’s deputy head Zaw Man. He concluded the baby dolphin was electrified to death; the body was put inside an icebox and brought to Mandalay, he added
Wildlife Conservation Society advisor Thant Zin told Myanmar Mix that he saw the one-year-old calf during a three-hour patrol for illegal fishing on June 17.
“I found the baby dolphin swimming and jumping,” he said. “The next week the baby was dead.”
Thant Zin agreed with the local community that the dolphin was electrocuted.
Surveyors from Mandalay Region Fisheries Department and the Wildlife Conservation Society counted 79 of the critically endangered species from February 10 to 20—four more cetaceans than the previous year.
The find indicated a potential uptick in births, offering a small amount of hope that one of Myanmar’s most endangered species is pulling itself back from the brink of extinction.
“We have seen more dolphins over the last three years, but last year we found only two of them dead,” added Thant Zin.
Irrawaddy dolphins have low reproduction rates. Females have one single baby after a gestation period of between nine and 14 months. They reach sexual maturity between four and nine years old and usually give birth every three years.
A 74-kilometre stretch of the Irrawaddy River is now officially protected, with restrictions on gillnets, mining and dredging. In this protected zone, 10 shock fishing boats were seized in 2017, 20 in 2018, 31 in 2019 and 19 so far this year, according to government data.
