SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — Cambodia has a marine mammal problem. Dolphins, dugongs and other species are caught and killed in fishers’ nets or wash up dead on beaches regularly, but no one knows how many, exactly why or how to stop it. To fill the void of data, a local NGO trained residents of 36 fishing communities along the country’s coast to join a nascent citizen scientist network documenting incidents of marine mammal bycatch and strandings. The NGO, Khmer Ocean Life, delivered training sessions across Cambodia’s four coastal provinces — Kampot, Kep, Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk — through July and August 2024. By leveraging fishing communities’ local expertise and presence on the water through the citizen scientist network, the group will track the frequency of bycatch and strandings and identify hotspots. The data will inform mitigation strategies to preserve Cambodia’s marine biodiversity. The training sessions, delivered by staff from Khmer Ocean Life and the Fisheries Administration, aimed to develop fishers’ understanding of different marine mammal species. Community members learned how to identify the most common ones by shape, color, size and features; how to use the personal protective equipment (PPE) needed when handling dead animals; and how to record physiological and geospatial data about bycatch and strandings on a simple form. They also learned how marine mammals fit into the broader marine ecosystem. “This is what we want the communities to understand,” said El Lokkaman, a project assistant who delivers the trainings. “That dolphins and marine mammals play an important role…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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