By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – The Earth Island Institute Philippines raised their alarm on the possible extinction of Irrawaddy dolphins in Negros, after a dolphin calf was found dead in the coastal waters of Pulupandan, Negros Occidental on Sept 25, 2020.
The group is an international organization that promotes awareness, grassroots environmentalism for the protection, conservation, and restoration of nature, focusing on marine wildlife.
The group said marine scientists led by the University of St. La Salle (USLS) here are still in the process of identifying the cause of death of an Irrawaddy dolphin.
According to Mark Louie Aquino, group’s campaign officer, the said species is categorized by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red list of Threatened Species (IUCN Red list) as “critically endangered” because of its dwindling number.
At present, there are only 13 remaining individual dolphins according to the marine population surveys, he added.
“We earnestly urge the national government to immediately adopt the proposal of the local scientists and communities to declare parts of the coastal areas as Marine Protected Area (MPA) aimed at helping these pinoy dolphins survive their crisis on population,” Aquino said.
“This should be a national priority since the Irrawaddys are our national treasure and pride,” he added.
The group cited in their press release that on Nov 2019, Senator Juan Edgardo ‘Sonny’ Angara filed a resolution urging the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and the local government units (LGUs) of Pulupandan and Bago City in the province to immediately take necessary steps to protect the remaining Irrawaddy dolphins in the Guimaras Strait and declare their habitat as MPA.
However, the declaration process from the local government unit of Pulupandan remains elusive in signing the MPA, the group said.
Earth Island Institute Asia-Pacific said that only by declaring the area as MPA will the country be able to enhance the conservation efforts to prevent the extinction of the Irrawaddys.
This means that all human activities in the area where the Irrawaddy dolphin can be found must immediately stop.
Fisherfolks and companies that will be affected by these policies should be supported by the concerned LGUs, as well as the national government. Alternative livelihood such as promoting ecotourism like dolphin watching can be introduced to the locals, the group said.
Meanwhile, Lumba project, a center for research and engagement on critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins found in Bago and Pulupandan areas, of the USLS, said in their Facebook post that the Irrawaddy dolphins in Guimaras Strait are the most endangered mammals in this region, with their population at dangerously low levels.
Their survival is threatened by several factors aggravated by the fact that they live in coastal areas near shore where they are vulnerable to the effects of industrial, domestic, and agricultural pollution, boat traffic, net entanglement, and habitat degradation, the group said.
