The Ayeyarwady Dolphin Protected Area (ADPA)

Back to the Map

The Ayeyarwady Dolphin Protected Area (ADPA)

Protecting the Irrawaddy Dolphin for a healthy of Ayeyarwady river

Protected Areas

Wildlife conservation

Fisheries

Background

The Irrawaddy Dolphin is critically endangered, with only about 79 left in the Ayeyarwady River in Myanmar. Human activities threaten their survival, such as pollution, overfishing, illegal fishing methods, excessive boat traffic.

The project

The small population of dolphins remaining in the Ayeyarwady lives north of Mandalay, between Mingun and Bhamo. A 74 km stretch of the river was set up by the Department of Fisheries (DoF) in 2005 as the Ayeyarwady Dolphin Protected Area (ADPA), where it is strictly forbidden to catch, kill or trade dolphins, to practice electrocution fishing, or to use certain types of nets. Gold mining was banned along the whole Ayeyarwady river in 2005. The DoF works with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to educate local people about Dolphin conservation and sustainable fishing practices, and support community-based ecotourism. They hold talks and workshops together, and conduct regular surveys of the dolphin population. DoF patrols the river to inform and enforce fishing regulations.

About the organization

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is an international NGO whose mission is to save wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. WCS was the first international NGO to initiate long-term conservation in Myanmar in 1993.

Irrawaddy dolphins are found in both coastal marine and freshwater habitats such as estuaries, bays and rivers of the Indo-Pacific. The three Freshwater river populations are all critically endangered.

In 1879, researcher John Anderson reported seeing humans and dolphins fishing together on the Ayeyarwady. This practice is still going on today and is known as cooperative fishing. “I come to the river every morning. The dolphins will then tell me it’s time to go fishing. On good fishing days the dolphins signal with their flukes and lead me to a school of fish.” Cooperative fisherman U Tun Naing

Since 2002 scientists have surveyed the Ayeyarwady annually to check the status of the Irrawaddy dolphins. The scientists travel slowly on a boat and record any sightings of dolphins using binoculars. The area where the dolphins live has shrunk approximately by half in the last 100 years. Yet, there are also some good signs: Irrawaddy Dolphin population increased from 59 in 2003 to 79 in 2020.