The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, in partnership with World Wide Fund For Nature-Cambodia, has announced the arrival of the fifth Mekong Irrawaddy dolphin calf this year.

In a social media post on July 7, the ministry disclosed that dolphin guards had been informed by local tourism boat operators about the sighting of the calf.

A photograph of the newest dolphin calf was captured just before midday at Antong Vien within the Anlong Kampi dolphin conservation area in Kratie province.

According to the ministry's analysis, the 10-day-old calf was seen swimming amongst a group of nine adults. This marks a notable addition to this year's calf records.

In a social media post, WWF-Cambodia stated, "We express profound congratulations to the combined efforts of the Fisheries Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries and WWF-Cambodia on this significant record of the newborn calf”.

The post added that the Fisheries Administration and WWF research team continues to monitor the dolphin population across Mekong habitats in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces, where they are also conducting surveys to estimate the dolphin population for 2023.

The Ministry noted that last year, conservation teams had spotted only six calves, mirroring the same count recorded in 2021.