page_title: Irrawaddy dolphin
section_title: National efforts
hierarchical_section_title: Irrawaddy dolphin / Conservation / National efforts
caption_attribution_description: English: This NASA satellite image was created by merging Landsat 7 satellite observations from November 24, 1999, and November 17 and 26, 2000. It shows the forest in the protected area. The Sundarbans appears deep green, surrounded to the north by a landscape of agricultural lands, which appear lighter green, towns, which appear tan, and streams, which are blue. Ponds for shrimp aquaculture, especially in Bangladesh, sit right at the edge of the protected area, a potential problem for the water quality and biodiversity of the area. The forest may also be under stress from environmental disturbance occurring thousands of kilometers away, such as deforestation in the Himalaya Mountains far to the north. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the University of Maryland’s Global Land Cover Facility. Français&#160;: Cette image satellite montre la forêt dans le secteur protégé. La région des Sundarbans semble vert-foncé, entouré au nord par un paysage de régions agricoles, qui apparaissent d’un vert plus léger, les villes, sont en brun, et les cours d’eau sont bleus. Les étangs pour l'aquiculture de crevette, particulièrement au Bangladesh, se trouvent juste a la limite du secteur protégé, un problème potentiel pour la qualité de l'eau et la biodiversité du secteur. La forêt peut également être sous l'effet de perturbations environnementales à des milliers de kilomètres de distance, comme le déboisement des montagnes de l'Himalaya loin au nord.
context_page_description: The Irrawaddy dolphin is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in discontinuous subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia.
context_section_description: Several national efforts are resulting in the reduction of threats to local Irrawaddy dolphin subpopulations:
  Portions of Irrawaddy dolphin habitat in the Sundarbans mangrove forest of Bangladesh are included within 139,700 ha (539 sq mi) of three wildlife sanctuaries, which are part of the Sunderbans World Heritage Site. The Wildlife Conservation Society is working with the Bangladesh Ministry of Environment and Forests to create protected areas for the 6000 remaining dolphins
  Irrawaddy dolphins are fully protected as an endangered species under Cambodian fishery law.  In 2005, The World Wide Fund For Nature  (WWF) established the Cambodian Mekong Dolphin Conservation Project with support from government and local communities. The aim is to support the survival of the remaining population through targeted conservation activities, research, and education. In January 2012, the Cambodian Fisheries Administration, the Commission for Conservation and Development of Mekong River Dolphin Eco-tourism Zone, and WWF signed the Kratie Declaration on the Conservation of the Mekong River Irrawaddy Dolphin, an agreement binding them to work together, and setting out a roadmap for dolphin conservation in the Mekong River. On 24 August 2012, the Cambodian government announced that 180-kilometre-long (110 mi) stretch of the Mekong River from eastern Kratie province to the border with Laos has been stated as limit fishing zone which uses floating houses, fishing cages and gill nets are disallowed, but simple fishing is allowed. This area is patrolled by a network of river guards, specifically to protect dolphins. Between January and February 2006, a dozen Irrawaddy dolphins were found dead. The discovery of 10 new baby dolphins  on the coast of Cambodia was a relief and gave hope that the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins would make a comeback in population. Since the endangerment was evident, 66 guards have been posted on the coast of Cambodia to protect these dolphins, and only two deaths have been reported since these efforts. To make more efforts to keep these animals from going extinct, the use of fishing nets on the coast of Cambodia is banned, as well.
  The Irrawaddy dolphin (under the common name of snubfin dolphin, with the scientific name misspelled as Oreaella brevezastris) is included the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, Schedule I, which bans their killing, transport and sale of products. A major restoration effort to open a new mouth between Chilika Lake and the Bay of Bengal in 2000 was successful in restoring the lake ecology and regulating the salinity gradient in the lake waters, which has resulted in increases in the population of Irrawaddy dolphin due to increase of prey species of fish, prawns, and crabs.
  
  A conservation program, entitled Conservation Foundation for the Protection of Rare Aquatic Species of Indonesia, focused on protecting the Irrawaddy dolphin population and their habitat, the Mahakam River. The program not only educates and surveys the public, but also  monitors the dolphin population and their habitat. A prime example of this is the establishment of patrols in several villages.
  Some major concern for the population in the Mekong River has arisen due to numerous threats. In the 1970s, many Irrawaddy dolphins were slaughtered for oil, and soon after,  intensive fishing practices with explosives and gillnets began. As of now, the dolphins are protected in Cambodia and Laos Democratic Republic. Now, both explosive fishing and use of gillnets is restricted in many of the Irrawaddy dolphin's habitats. Canadian conservationist Ian Baird set up the Lao Community Fisheries and Dolphin Protection Project to study the Irrawaddy dolphins in the Laotian part of the Mekong. Part of this project compensated fishers for the loss of nets damaged to free entangled dolphins. This project was expanded to include Cambodia, after the majority of the dolphin population was determined to have been killed or migrated to Laos' southern neighbor. The Si Phan Don Wetlands Project has successfully encouraged river communities to se
caption: Satellite image of the Sundarbans
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