Species
Irrawaddy dolphin
ផ្សោត
A small dolphin whose last Mekong population lives in Cambodia, between Kratie and the Lao border.
The Irrawaddy dolphin (ផ្សោត) is a small dolphin whose last Mekong population lives in Cambodia, on the river between Kratie and the Lao border.[1][2] In Khmer the Mekong dolphin is called ផ្សោតទន្លេមេគង្គ.[1] Tourism of Cambodia calls the dolphins the main tourist attraction of Kratie province and town.[3]
The species
The Irrawaddy dolphin, Orcaella brevirostris, lives along the coasts of South and Southeast Asia, and three populations live in rivers: the Mekong in Cambodia, the Mahakam in Indonesia and the Ayeyarwady in Myanmar. The Cetacean Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as Endangered and each river population as Critically Endangered.[4] It is slate gray and rounded, with a domed forehead and a short beak.[5][6] The specialist group writes that the Mekong dolphins differ genetically from other Irrawaddy dolphins, even those on the nearby Cambodian coast, and may form a subspecies.[4]
Range and numbers
The Mekong dolphins now live only along a 180-kilometer stretch of the river, from Kratie town to just below the Khone Falls on the Lao border.[4][2] They were once found in the Sekong, Sesan and Srepok rivers as well.[4] In the dry season they gather in deep pools. The Kampi pool, about 60 meters deep and a little north of Kratie town, is where visitors go to see them.[5][7] The Chheu Teal pool on the Lao border lost its last dolphin in 2022, and since then the Mekong's dolphins have all lived in Cambodia.[5]
In 2020 a survey by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Cambodia's Fisheries Administration estimated 89 dolphins, with a likely range of 78 to 102, compared with an estimate of 92 in 2018.[2] The specialist group dates that estimate of 92 to 2017.[4] The specialist group writes that every estimate since 2007 has been below 100.[4] In July 2026 the Phnom Penh Post wrote that a calf seen on April 27 had brought the population to 118, a figure the paper expected to fall after the loss of a dolphin in fishing gear that month.[8]
Threats
The specialist group names two main threats: entanglement in fishing gear (above all gillnets) and the loss of habitat as dams and embankments change the river's flow.[4] WWF also names overfishing and illegal methods such as electrofishing.[2] Dialogue Earth wrote in 2022 that the ministry's head of fisheries conservation blamed illegal fishing for almost all the dolphin losses in Cambodia, though the article adds that the cause is not always easy to tell.[5] The specialist group warns that the Sambor and Stung Treng dams proposed on the Mekong would destroy or transform most of the dolphins' remaining habitat.[4]
Protection
The dolphins are fully protected under Cambodia's Fisheries Law.[2] In 2012 protected zones were declared over their whole permanent range in Cambodia, from Kratie town to the Lao border, and gillnets were banned inside them.[4][5] A government sub-decree in February 2023 set up conservation zones along 120 kilometers of the Mekong, 85 in Kratie and 35 in Stung Treng. It bans fishing and fish farming in the zones and limits boats to 30 kilometers an hour.[9] River guards, among them fisheries officers, police and villagers, patrol the river from posts along its banks.[4]
In Khmer culture
In Cambodia the dolphin is regarded as sacred. Dialogue Earth tells one of the legends: the dolphin was once a woman who leapt into the river so that she would not have to marry a snake.[5] Atlas Obscura writes that fishers think it bad luck to harm a dolphin, and that the folktale helps protect the animals.[10] A tale of the dolphin's origin, ដើមកំណើតសត្វផ្សោត, is in the fourth volume of the Khmer folktale collection.[11]
Seeing the dolphins
Boats leave from a landing at Kampi village, about 15 kilometers north of Kratie town, and stop a little south of the Kampi rapids.[7] The dolphins are shy, and visitors often hear them breathe before they see them.[7] In November 2025 Mekong River Dolphin Day was celebrated at Kampi.[12]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Radio Free Asia Khmer, សន ចាន់រដ្ឋា, អាជ្ញាធរក្រចេះហាមឃាត់ការប្រើឧបករណ៍នេសាទខុសច្បាប់ក្នុងតំបន់ការពារ និងអភិរក្សសត្វផ្សោតទន្លេមេគង្គ (February 4, 2021)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 World Wildlife Fund, Numbers of Critically Endangered Mekong River Dolphin Stable (October 23, 2020)
- ↑ Tourism of Cambodia, Kratie (undated)
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group, Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphins (August 2021)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Dialogue Earth, Danielle Keeton-Olsen, Cambodia strives to protect the Mekong's last dolphins (March 18, 2022)
- ↑ FISHBIO, from PhysOrg, Hope for Mekong dolphins as Cambodia numbers increase: minister (July 3, 2024)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Hello Angkor, Rodney Charles L'Huillier, Kratie Mekong River Dolphins (January 1, 2026)
- ↑ The Star, from the Phnom Penh Post, Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin drowns after becoming entangled in fishing gear (July 26, 2026)
- ↑ Cambodianess, from Xinhua, Cambodia creates safe zones for rare Mekong River dolphins (February 28, 2023)
- ↑ Atlas Obscura, Stefan Lovgren, Irrawaddy Dolphins Get Help from an Ancient Cambodian Folktale (November 20, 2023)
- ↑ Wikisource, ប្រជុំរឿងព្រេងខ្មែរ/ភាគទី៤ (contents page, undated)
- ↑ FISHBIO, from Khmer Times, Cambodia records first-ever year with zero Mekong dolphin deaths (November 17, 2025)