Title
Dams threaten rare Mekong dolphins
Author(s)
Brownell, Robert L.;Reeves, Randall R.;Thomas, Peter O.;Smith, Brian D.;Ryan, Gerard E.
Published
2017
Publisher
Science
Abstract
R. Stone's In Depth News story “Dambuilding threatens Mekong fisheries” (2 December, p. 1084) explains why the scores of dams planned for the Mekong River are likely to have major impacts on eight of the world's largest freshwater fishes, all of which are already at risk of extinction. Stone does not mention the impacts on a critically endangered freshwater population of dolphins, Orcaella brevirostris, estimated to number only 85 individuals in 2010 (1). Although once widespread in the Mekong system, this dolphin's range in the river is now restricted to an area spanning from the main stem from Khone Falls (Pha Phen Falls) near the Laos-Cambodia border to about 200 km downstream in Cambodia.

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PUB22244