カワゴンドウ保護令、２か月で撤回　カンボジア首相

【プノンペンＡＦＰ＝時事】カンボジアのフン・セン首相は２７日、メコン川に生息する絶滅危惧種カワゴンドウ（イラワジイルカ）を保護する政令を廃止すると発表した。政令は２か月前に制定されたばかりだった。（カンボジア・クラチエを流れるメコン川を泳ぐカワゴンドウ。資料写真。）
　メコン川のカワゴンドウの個体数は、違法漁業や生息地の喪失により、１９９７年の２００頭から２０２０年には８９頭にまで減少した。世界自然保護基金によると、２２年には１１頭が死に、過去３年で死んだ数は計２９頭となっている。
　フン・セン氏は今年２月、１週間で３頭が死んだことを受け、メコン川の１２０キロの区間に漁業を禁止する保護区を設ける政令を制定した。
　しかし２月以降も２頭が死に、うち１頭は、先週漁網に掛かって死んでいるのが発見された生後４日の赤ちゃんだった。
　フン・セン氏は廃止について、カワゴンドウが死に続けている上、漁師にも影響が出ているためだと説明している。
　同氏はイルカ保護区域の一部での漁を禁止し、電気ショック漁法の取り締まりを強化する以前の規制を復活させるよう命じた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/04/28-17:01）

Cambodian leader Hun Sen on Thursday cancelled a law he created just two months ago to protect critically endangered Mekong dolphins as the mammals continue to die from illegal fishing activities.
The population of Irrawaddy dolphins in the river Mekong has dwindled from 200, when the first census was taken in 1997, to just 89 in 2020 largely due to illegal fishing and habitat loss.
Hun Sen issued a new decree in February creating protection zones in a 120-kilometre (75-mile) stretch of the Mekong, in which fishing is banned, following the death of three dolphins in a week.
Conservationists have also stepped up efforts to protect the mammals -- small, shy creatures with domed foreheads and short beaks that once swam through much of the river, all the way to the delta in Vietnam.
But two dolphins have since died, including a four-day-old calf found dead last week entangled in fishing nets.
Hun Sen said Thursday he had decided to cancel the new decree because dolphins keep dying and thousands of fishing families were affected.
We want to protect dolphins that are at risk of becoming extinct, but dolphins keep dying, he said at an event in Phnom Penh.
Dolphins keep entangling in gillnets despite the ban, he added, referring to nets strung across the river by fishermen.
Hun Sen said the law also affected thousands of families who depend on fishing in the Mekong.
Shall we continue this? We must annul it and let people get benefits from the river, he said.
Hun Sen asked authorities to implement old regulations to ban fishing in parts of the dolphin zones and to crack down on electrofishing.
Eleven dolphins died in 2022, bringing the total number of dead dolphins to 29 in the last three years, according to the World Wildlife Fund.