22 Dec 

The police have arrested five people and seized 27 electrofishing boats and the electrical devices in the past three and half months of Ayeyawady Dolphin Conservation Plan.

The plan launched on 1 September 2020, and the patrol is daily conducted. On 15 December, the authorities arrested one person red-handed and seized six electrofishing boats and the related equipment. The electrofishing equipment was handed over to the related Fisheries Department. The detained persons on electrofishing have been prosecuted under the Freshwater Fisheries Law in Mandalay, said U Kyaw Hla Thein, officer-in-charge of Ayeyawady dolphin conservation under the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS-Myanmar).

To eradicate the illegal electrofishing, protect the endangered dolphins from illegal fishing and increase the dolphin population, the Ayeyawady Dolphin Conservation Plan was carried out under the guidance of the Fisheries Department. A combined team comprising officials from the Fisheries Department and other related organizations are patrolling day and night around the dolphin conservation area, and the team seized 27 fishing vessels and electrofishing devices, along with five fishers. The patrolling is daily carried out in the Ayeyawady dolphin conservation area of Htigyaing, Katha and Shwegu towns.

Aung Thura (Translated by Ei Myat Mon)