Just one day after the discovery of the body of the third Irrawaddy dolphin to be recorded dead this year, a 35-year-old fisherman was placed in pretrial detention in connection with illegal fishing in the Mekong Dolphin Protected area in Stung Treng province.

Tum Niro, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said that river guards from the Koh Chrum and Tbong Khla stations were patrolling the protected area on August 17 when they spotted the suspect.

The man, identified as Keo Pheara, was arrested after being caught using electric-shock fishing equipment near Tbong Khla village, in Siem Bok district’s O'Mreah commune.

The Stung Treng Fisheries Administration (FiA) prepared a case and sent him to the Stung Treng Provincial Court. On August 18, the court ordered him detained in the provincial prison.

“He was charged with fishing with electrical gear, a Class 1 offense under the Fisheries Law. This was not the first time he had committed this crime. He was very active at illegal fishing,” said Niro.

Under Article 98 of the Fisheries Law, the man faces between three and five years in prison, and all evidence will be confiscated as state property or destroyed.

The accused is part of a criminal network and has threatened river guards and fishing communities in the past, according to the provincial FiA.

Niro noted that five fishing-related cases have been sent to court this year, noting that despite the agriculture department’s best efforts to educate the public, the offending is still taking place.

“I call for all fishermen to immediately cease illegal fishing activities such as the use of electric shock equipment, because it destroys fishery resources, harming the next generation. If we don’t work together to protect our resources, the next generation will run out of fish in the river,” he appealed.

In connection with illegal fishing, a female teenage dolphin was discovered dead near Anlong Kampi in Chroy Banteay village and commune in Kratie province’s Prek Prosop district on August 16. The dolphin was determined to have drowned in a 15cm diameter fishing net.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the dead dolphin had the ID number 139, was 2.1 metres long, weighed 108 kilogrammes and was 8 to 10 years old.

The ministry described the death of the dolphin as the ‘loss of a natural treasure of Cambodia and the world". The ministry also called on fishermen to immediately stop using illegal nets in the area.

Try Sopheak, director of the provincial agriculture department, could not be reached for comment on August 19, while Kratie FiA director Mok Ponlok declined to comment, saying that he was driving his car.

According to the agriculture ministry, the number of Mekong River dolphins in Cambodia had increased to about 105 as of June 2024, eight of them born this year.