Conservation status and the use of Irrawaddy dolphins as a flagship species for climate adaptation in the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary, Cambodia Building Resilience to Climate Change Impacts in Coastal Southeast Asia (BCR) Brian Smith, Sun Kong and Lieng Saroeun INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE The designation of geographical entities in this Citation: Smith, B., Kong, S., and Saroeun, L. book, and the presentation of the material, do not (2014). Conservation status and the use of imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on Irrawaddy dolphins as a flagship species for climate adaptation in the Peam Krasop Wildlife the part of IUCN or the European Union concerning Sanctuary, Cambodia. Thailand: IUCN. 80pp. the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its Cover photo: Dolphins in Koh Kong Province, frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this Cambodia © IUCN Cambodia/Sun Kong publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN, the European Union or any other participating Layout by: Ria Sen organizations. Produced by: IUCN Southeast Asia Group This publication has been made possible by funding from the European Union. Available from: IUCN Asia Regional Office Published by: IUCN Asia in Bangkok, Thailand 63 Soi Prompong, Sukhumvit 39, Wattana 10110 Bangkok, Thailand Copyright: © 2014 IUCN, International Union for Tel: +66 2 662 4029 Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources IUCN Cambodia Reproduction of this publication for educational or #6B, St. 368, Boeng Keng Kang III, other non-commercial purposes is authorized Chamkarmon, PO Box 1504, Phnom Penh, without prior written permission from the copyright Cambodia holder provided the source is fully acknowledgeRia d. Tel: +855 23 222 311 Reproduction of this publication for resale or other www.iucn.org/cambodia commercial purposes is prohibited without prior www.iucn.org/building-coastal-resilience written permission of the copyright holder. 1 Acknowledgements We would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Robert Mather, Head of Southeast Asia Group, IUCN, for initiating the dolphin assessment in the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary (PKWS) and adjacent coastal waters and mobilizing the survey team. Special thanks are given to H.E. Say Socheat, Deputy of Koh Kong Province, as well as other local authorities in Koh Kong who provided permission for us to bring dolphin survey equipment from Thailand. We also thank the Fisheries Administration for kindly supporting administrative work related to the project and offering the assistance of one of their officers to participate in the dolphin survey. We would like give our deep thanks to Mr. Kong Kimsreng, Senior Program Officer, IUCN Cambodia, for consistently providing helpful ideas and technical support. We are also grateful to Mr. Sorn Pheakdey for providing GIS assistance and producing the survey maps, and Mr. Lou Vanny for assistance in the field and advice on recommendations. Sincere thanks are given to IUCN’s Building Coastal Resilience network in the Kong Kong Province, including representatives from the Department of Environment, Fisheries Administration, PKWS and local communities who participated in the dolphin survey. Finally, we would like to gratefully acknowledge funding support from the European Union Project for the Building Coastal Resilience to Climate Change Impacts in Southeast Asia Project. 2 Foreword Building Resilience to Climate Change in Coastal Southeast Asia (BCR) is a four year EU- funded project working with communities and local government agencies in 8 provinces of Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam along the coastline between Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City. Initial desk study reviews of likely climate change impacts on locally and nationally important species and habitats identified the coastal populations of the Irrawaddy dolphin in Trat Province of Thailand, and Koh Kong Province of Cambodia as a species of particular interest to the project. As predators, dolphins play an important role in maintaining the complexity of food webs and their stability in the face of climate change, while their sensitivity to prey movements and changes in coastal conditions make them a potentially good indicator of climate-induced change. At the same time dolphin watching eco-tourism may provide supplementary income opportunities for local people, with livelihood diversification being a key element of local climate change adaptation. In vulnerability and capacity assessments in these provinces, local stakeholders also reaffirmed this interest in Irrawaddy dolphins. While relatively more was already known about Irrawaddy dolphins in Trat, with an active local conservation group, and regular surveys conducted by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, it was found that there was very little knowledge or understanding of the situation of Irrawaddy dolphins in Koh Kong, and no active involvement in dolphin management of either local communities or local government agencies. In this context, the BCR project decided to support training of local government and local fishermen in survey methods, and to support baseline surveys of Irrawaddy dolphins and other coastal cetaceans in and around the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary (PKWS) of Koh Kong Province. Cetacean expert Brian Smith (WCS/IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group) led the training, surveys and report writing together with IUCN staff and local counterparts. This report presents the results of that work. Recommendations for dolphin conservation and management will be integrated as priority actions in the PKWS Management Plan, the development of which is also supported by BCR. At the same time, IUCN will make every effort to secure additional funding for dolphin conservation in this area over the longer term, beyond the lifetime of the BCR project. Robert Mather Head, IUCN Southeast Asia Group 3 Table of contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 2 Foreword .................................................................................................................................. 3 List of figures and tables ......................................................................................................... 5 Executive summary ................................................................................................................. 7 I. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Previous research on cetaceans in Cambodia ............................................................. 9 1.2 Description and status of the three most common cetaceans in Cambodia .................. 9 1.3 Irrawady dolphins and climate adaptation ...................................................................10 1.4 Description of the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary and adjacent coastal waters ........11 II. Methods ...........................................................................................................................11 2.1 Training .......................................................................................................................11 2.2 Field survey techniques ..............................................................................................12 III. Results .............................................................................................................................13 3.1 Search results and cetacean sightings ........................................................................13 3.2 Environmental conditions ............................................................................................17 3.3 Photo-identification .....................................................................................................20 3.4 Census of fishing gear and sand mining dredges ........................................................22 IV. Discussion ....................................................................................................................26 4.1 Dolphin distribution, adundance, group sizes and habitat preference ..........................26 4.2 Range declines due to habitat disturbance .................................................................26 4.3 Photo-identification and evidence for fisheries interactions .........................................27 4.4 Fisheries and the potential for fatal entanglement of dolphins and porpoises ..............27 4.5 Implications for climate change adaptation .................................................................28 V. Conclusions and recommendations ..............................................................................29 5.1 Dolphin management areas ........................................................................................29 5.2 Educational outreach ..................................................................................................29 5.3 Research and monitoring ............................................................................................30 VI. References ....................................................................................................................31 VII. Appendices ...................................................................................................................34 7.1 Appendix 1: Handbook for a dolphin assessment in the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary, Cambodia