[LINK] "Rogue 'Electro-Fishing' Puts River Dolphins at Risk in Myanmar"
National Geographic's Hereward Holland describes how an age-old history of cooperation between dolphins and Burmese fishers is being undermined by new destructive fishing techniques.
On a pale blue dawn on the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar (Burma), Maung Lay crouched at the front of his canoe, rapping the gunwale with a short stick. He then made a throaty, high-pitched purr, like the ringtone of an old telephone: his call for assistance.
On cue, the shiny gray flipper of a dolphin broke the surface and waved-dolphinese for: "We're ready to cooperate."
Standing up, Maung Lay pulled a pleated net over his right elbow and shook the lead weights woven into its hem against the hull. At the other end of the 15-foot (5-meter) boat, an assistant splashed the water with an oar.
More dolphins arrived, exhaling heavily as they breached the surface, their mission to corral schools of fish around the canoe. After about a minute, a dolphin flicked its tailfin out of the water, a sort of aquatic thumbs up. Maung Lay responded by casting his net in a wide arc into the tea-brown water.
But when he hauled the net back in, it was empty-not a single fish.
Such scenes are increasingly common on the Irrawaddy River. That's because of "electro-fishing"-a new, and illegal, technique in which rogue fishermen send an electric current through the water to stun fish, making them easier to scoop up in bunches.
The tactic is depleting the fish stocks that feed the already endangered Irrawaddy dolphins and is thought to have inadvertently killed two dolphins. It also seems to have made some dolphins wary of helping legitimate fishermen round up fish, a longtime tradition on the river.
On a pale blue dawn on the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar (Burma), Maung Lay crouched at the front of his canoe, rapping the gunwale with a short stick. He then made a throaty, high-pitched purr, like the ringtone of an old telephone: his call for assistance.
On cue, the shiny gray flipper of a dolphin broke the surface and waved-dolphinese for: "We're ready to cooperate."
Standing up, Maung Lay pulled a pleated net over his right elbow and shook the lead weights woven into its hem against the hull. At the other end of the 15-foot (5-meter) boat, an assistant splashed the water with an oar.
More dolphins arrived, exhaling heavily as they breached the surface, their mission to corral schools of fish around the canoe. After about a minute, a dolphin flicked its tailfin out of the water, a sort of aquatic thumbs up. Maung Lay responded by casting his net in a wide arc into the tea-brown water.
But when he hauled the net back in, it was empty-not a single fish.
Such scenes are increasingly common on the Irrawaddy River. That's because of "electro-fishing"-a new, and illegal, technique in which rogue fishermen send an electric current through the water to stun fish, making them easier to scoop up in bunches.
The tactic is depleting the fish stocks that feed the already endangered Irrawaddy dolphins and is thought to have inadvertently killed two dolphins. It also seems to have made some dolphins wary of helping legitimate fishermen round up fish, a longtime tradition on the river.