Judul: Re-Design of mahakam irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella Brevirostris Gray, 1866) conservation based on distributional changes in Mahakam River, East Kalimantan
Abstrak: The intensive bio-ecological research on the Mahakam dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris Gray,1866) from 1997 to 2004 revealed that there were two core habitats/core areas with high dolphin densities in the Mahakam River i.e. the MuaraPahu-Penyinggahan area and Pela-Muara Kaman area. Since 2007, there have been unusual occurrences within the distribution of the Mahakam dolphins. The core habitat of Muara Pahu-Penyinggahan, which was previously known to support a large population of Mahakam dolphins has apparently been left. The changes in distribution were also detected in 2010 when the population monitoring was conducted and no individuals were found in the Muara Pahu-Penyinggahan core habitat . The Mahakam dolphins are now more concentrated in the area of Muara Muntai and in their other core habitat, Pela-Muara Kaman. This research aimed to reveal whether the changes in distribution were persistent and to respond to this phenomenon by improving the conservation design. To predict the persistency of these changes population dynamics, habitat and socio-political environmentv(policies) were studied and formed the research goal.. Thus, the research objectives of this dissertation are as follows: 1) predicting the survival of the Mahakam dolphin population for a period of100 years, 2) analyzing the characteristics of the Mahakam dolphin habitats; 3) evaluating the effectiveness of coordination and consistency of the Mahakam dolphin conservation policies; and 4) perfecting the design of dolphin conservation to accommodate the current situation of the population, the Mahakam dolphin habitat and socio-political environment that support the conservation efforts. The research on the population of Mahakam dolphins in 2012 revealed that the individual number of Mahakam dolphins, the number of births, and the number deaths were as many as 92 individuals, 5 individuals, and6 individuals, respectively. This research also demonstrated that changes in the distribution of dolphins had occurred inMahakam River. The Mahakam dolphins do no longer live in their core habitat of PenyinggahanMuaraPahu. Currently, the dolphin habitat is concentrated in the core habitat of Pela-Muara Kaman. The changes in the distribution indicate that further shrinkage in the habitat of Mahakam dolphins has occurred Mahakam River. As a result of this, an analysis on the survival of the Mahakam dolphin population was conducted. The results of the analysis predict that the life chances of the Mahakam dolphin population in the next one hundred years are less encouraging as the number of individuals will continue to diminish. The only scenario that predicts a stable dolphin population in one hundred years is when the mortality rate of dolphins is reduced to two individuals per year with the conditions that there is no further shrinkage of habitat, which will result in the reduction of its carrying capacity, and the birth rate is maintained at five individuals per year. vii Networks for coordination for dolphin conservation, which includes 16 organizations have not been effective. There has been a lack of coordination in most networks especially related to organizations/actors included in groups (factions) that work in WestKutai Regency. The lack of coordination started from the time when the dolphins moved away from their conservation area and habitat in Muara Pahu. There has been no coordination
Keyword: Mahakam dolphins, probality of survival, probality of survival, strengthening of coordination, redesign of conservation