A rare, endangered dolphin has been found dead after apparently becoming tangled in a fishing net and drowning.
The female Irrawaddy dolphin was found in the water on Tuesday this week by a fisher in the Camarines Sur province of the Philippines.
Nonie Enolva, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Philippines' Bicol region, told Philippine news outlet Inquirer.net that the dolphin would have died due to drowning with the fishing net preventing it from reaching the surface for air.
The loss of even one Irrawaddy dolphin may be a cause for concern for conservationists. The species in general is listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), though some regional populations are considered critically endangered.
In the Mekong River, for example, there are thought to be less than 100 individuals left.
The Irrawaddy dolphin species is limited to coastal areas in South and Southeast Asia as well as in three rivers in that region, including the Mekong.
Despite their rarity, Irrawaddy dolphins are well-known among tourists due to their distinctive appearance. The species looks similar to a baby beluga whale, with a rounded face and lack of a beak which other dolphin species tend to have. They also have movable lips and the ability to move their heads in all directions, giving them expressive faces.
Another part of the appeal of this rare dolphin species is that individuals tend to form close associations with fishing boats, making them easy to observe in some parts of Southeast Asia where they are considered a tourist attraction.
For some human populations, the dolphin is considered to be sacred, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
However, they also face many threats: capturing for captivity, environmental pollution, and entanglement in fishing nets have all played a part in the decimation of this dolphin's population.
Earlier this year, one particular Irrawaddy dolphin population in northeast Cambodia went extinct after its last member got caught in fishing gear and died.
Following the discovery of the more recent deceased Irrawaddy dolphin in the Philippines on Tuesday, its carcass was transported to a marine lab at the University of the Philippines Institute of Environmental Science & Meteorology.
There, it will undergo a post-mortem examination.
"This is new evidence that we have this species in the Bicol region and a possible indication that they have been around for a long time but we cannot see them," Enolva told Inquirer.net. "In Southeast Asia, there are less than 100 known [known individuals in the] population."
The spokesperson added that fishermen and women who encounter an Irrawaddy dolphin in distress may sacrifice their fishing nets to help it.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
