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(including <strong>the</strong> Gulf <strong>of</strong> Carpentaria and TorresStrait).Folk attitudes and interactions with marinemammalsThe wider community <strong>of</strong> Australians place highintrinsic value on marine mammals but generallyhas a low level <strong>of</strong> accurate knowledge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>status <strong>of</strong> marine mammal populations. Thereare many non-consumptive uses <strong>of</strong> marinemammals including whale and dolphin watchingtourism and interactions with wild dolphinsat locations such as Monkey Mia, in WesternAustralia. Public opinion has been effective inencouraging <strong>the</strong> development <strong>of</strong> formal codes,guidelines and regulations (Bannister et al. 1996),including whale watching regulations under <strong>the</strong>national Environment Protection and BiodiversityRegulations 2002.Capture <strong>of</strong> marine mammals for live display is nolonger permitted in Australia. Although <strong>the</strong>y arenot hunted, cetaceans have high spiritual valuefor many Indigenous Australians (Bannister etal. 1996). They are <strong>of</strong>ten associated with sacredsites, “Dreaming Tracks”, “customary marinestates”, traditional and contemporary songs,stories, dance and art. Although <strong>the</strong>y are less wellknown than cetaceans, dugongs have been usedas a “flagship species” for several high pr<strong>of</strong>ilecampaigns against resort developments. Dugongshave very high value as traditional food formost coastal Indigenous Australian, and dugonghunting is an expression <strong>of</strong> Aboriginal identityand manhood (Doc. 16). Marsh noted that coastalIndigenous Australian also see <strong>the</strong> dugong as a“flagship species” for marine conservation andare very concerned about <strong>the</strong> impacts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> widercommunity on dugongs, especially habitat lossand gill netting.Description <strong>of</strong> existing research programs mMarine mammal research in Australia is conductedmainly in waters outside <strong>the</strong> SE Asian region, inareas along <strong>the</strong> urban coast <strong>of</strong> Western Australia,Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and SouthAustralia (Marsh and Dinesen in press). Most <strong>of</strong><strong>the</strong> research in <strong>the</strong> SE Asian region <strong>of</strong> Australiahas consisted <strong>of</strong> occasional large-scale aerialsurveys for dugongs. Since 1996, aerial surveysfor dugongs and o<strong>the</strong>r large marine vertebrateshave been carried out in Western Australiaby <strong>the</strong> Department <strong>of</strong> Conservation and LandManagement in <strong>the</strong> Ningaloo Reef Exmouth GulfRegion (Preen et al. 1997), along <strong>the</strong> Pilbaracoast to <strong>the</strong> mouth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> De Grey, and along <strong>the</strong>Western Australian coastline on a yearly basisby <strong>the</strong> Centre for Whale Research (Jenner et al.2001). Woodside Energy Ltd has funded aerialsurveys to determine <strong>the</strong> distribution and relativeabundance <strong>of</strong> marine megafauna, especiallywhale sharks and humpback whales <strong>of</strong>f NingalooReef and North West Cape in Western Australia,with <strong>the</strong> aim <strong>of</strong> minimizing <strong>the</strong> adverse effects<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir <strong>of</strong>fshore oil and gas exploration andproduction activities (Jenner et al. 2001; Wilsonand Konslow 2001). The inshore waters <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>Gulf <strong>of</strong> Carpentaria in Queensland were surveyedfor dugongs and o<strong>the</strong>r marine mammals by Marshet al. (1998).Needs for additional researchParra and Marsh (Doc. 16) noted that informationon <strong>the</strong> ecology and conservation biology <strong>of</strong> most<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> marine mammals in Australian waters <strong>of</strong>Sou<strong>the</strong>ast Asia is practically non-existent andidentified three areas <strong>of</strong> research as <strong>the</strong> highestpriority for marine mammal research:(1) Data from carcasses and live strandedindividuals to provide information on distribution,life history, taxonomy and genetic relationships,diet and pathology.<strong>Second</strong> <strong>Workshop</strong> on <strong>the</strong> Biology and Conservation <strong>of</strong> Small Cetaceans and Dugongs <strong>of</strong> SE Asia 17
(2) Identification <strong>of</strong> key habitats.(3) By-catch.In addition, it was recommended during <strong>the</strong>discussion that studies should be carried outon <strong>the</strong> behavior <strong>of</strong> humpback and bottlenosedolphins in response to pingers (acoustic alarmsto warn marine mammals away from entanglingfishing gear) and on <strong>the</strong> acoustic range <strong>of</strong> pingers(McPherson et al. 1999). Such work has alreadybeen conducted for wild dugongs, which did notexhibit a behavioral response to <strong>the</strong> pingers (pers.comm. to Marsh by Amanda Hodgson, 2002).Present and potential whale and dolphinwatching operationsCurrently <strong>the</strong>re are no marine mammal watchingoperations in Australian waters <strong>of</strong> SE Asia. Dueto <strong>the</strong> remote and largely uninhabited nature <strong>of</strong>this area <strong>the</strong> potential for development <strong>of</strong> suchan industry is low. However, <strong>the</strong>re is potential fortourist activities centered in Ningaloo Reef MarinePark and Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia, toexpand fur<strong>the</strong>r north in tourist destinations suchas Broome and Darwin.2.1.2 BruneiNo new information was available to <strong>the</strong>workshop.2.1.3 CambodiaBeasley provided an update based on Doc. 34Species and distributionTen species are known from Cambodia (Appendix2). These are summarized separately for <strong>the</strong>Mekong River and <strong>the</strong> coast <strong>of</strong> Cambodia:Mekong RiverBased on dedicated surveys during 2001 andprevious surveys conducted by Baird in 1997,<strong>the</strong> Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphin populationappears to be very small, with seasonal variationin distribution. During <strong>the</strong> dry season, <strong>the</strong> entireMekong River population may be confined to <strong>the</strong>river section from Kratie to <strong>the</strong> Laos/Cambodiaborder (Beasley and Phay Somany 2002, Baird1997). During <strong>the</strong> wet season, <strong>the</strong> population isknown to range widely throughout <strong>the</strong> river system—south to at least Phnom Penh (Beasley 2002)and up major river systems, such as <strong>the</strong> Sekongand Sesan Rivers (Baird and Mounsouphom 1994,1997; Beasley and Phay Somany 2002). Based oninterviews conducted by Baird (1994, 1999) <strong>the</strong>rewere only a few reports <strong>of</strong> very small numbers<strong>of</strong> dolphins from near Siam Reap on TonleSap Great Lake in <strong>the</strong> mid-1990s (pers. comm.from Nao Thuok, Director General, Department<strong>of</strong> Fisheries). Based on <strong>the</strong>se interviews andthrough experience gained during bird surveysconducted by dedicated Wildlife ConservationSociety researchers based at Tonle Sap Great Lake(Goes and Hong 2002), <strong>the</strong> dolphin apparently nolonger occurs in significant numbers (if at all) in<strong>the</strong> lake.Coastal marine mammalsNo information on coastal species in Cambodianwaters was available at <strong>the</strong> 1995 workshop. Beasleyreported that based on research during 2001, Tenmarine mammal species have been recorded fromCambodian marine waters.(1) Finless porpoise: Eight sightings during2001. Sighted in Kompong Som Bay and coastalwaters along Koh Kong Province. Previouslysighted near Thai/Cambodian border by Nelson(1999).(2) Irrawaddy dolphin: Most frequently sightedcetacean in recent surveys <strong>of</strong> Cambodian coastalwaters. Important areas appear to be coastalwaters <strong>of</strong> Koh Kong Province, Kompong Som Bayand Ream National Park. Twenty sightings during18 CMS Technical Series Publication Nº 9 - 2005
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Page 5 and 6: TABLE OF CONTENTSpage1. Preliminari
Page 7 and 8: AppendicesAppendix 1 - List <strong
Page 9 and 10: 8 CMS Technical Series Publication
Page 11 and 12: 10 CMS Technical Series Publication
Page 13 and 14: The cetacean species reviewed inclu
Page 15 and 16: Table 1. Major commercial Commonwea
Page 17: (2) State Legislation.In state wate
Page 21 and 22: Coastal speciesThe most frequently
Page 23 and 24: Coastal speciesThere are currently
Page 25 and 26: and Guangxi Provinces (Yang et al.
Page 27 and 28: Table 3. Records of</strong
Page 29 and 30: can be viewed as the</stron
Page 31 and 32: Workshop participa
Page 33 and 34: ioaccumulation have not yet been ex
Page 35 and 36: of fishermen who h
Page 37 and 38: are supplied to scholars and organi
Page 39 and 40: threats. Many marine mammal populat
Page 42: waters or recognize important inter
Page 47 and 48: James Cook University (Queensland,
Page 49 and 50: the last ten years
Page 51 and 52: proactive in engaging more staff an
Page 53 and 54: of SE Asia. Two sp
Page 55 and 56: San Francisco (Negros Oriental); Li
Page 57 and 58: Legal status and present management
Page 59 and 60: within 15 kilometers from t
Page 61 and 62: US, has actively participated in ce
Page 63 and 64: the project was su
Page 65 and 66: Recently, the camp
Page 67 and 68: Mekong River downstream of<
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porpoises in tropical waters <stron
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species in the Ind
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Population/stock structureNo new in
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Needs for additional researchStock
Page 77 and 78:
waters of SE Asia,
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caused mortality is certainly large
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Needs for additional researchProper
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from SE Asia, it is known to occur
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3.1.7 AustraliaDugongs occur all al
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Table 8. Conservation objectives id
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3) Monitoring and assessment <stron
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Table 10. Outline of</stron
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The group agreed that this set <str
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6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONSThe works
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96 CMS Technical Series Publication
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Bank, E. 1931. A popular account <s
Page 101 and 102:
Dalebout, M. L., J. G. Mead, C. Sco
Page 103 and 104:
Jaaman, S. A., E. Tangon, I. Isnain
Page 105 and 106:
Lin, Y.-J. 1997. Mitochondrial DNA
Page 107 and 108:
Smith, B.D., T. A. Jefferson, D. Ho
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Yang, W.-C. 2000. Morbillivirus inf
Page 111 and 112:
CHOU Lien-SiangDepartment o
Page 113 and 114:
Brian D. SMITHWildlife Conservation
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APPENDIX 3Agenda1. Preliminaries2.
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Doc. 22 Dugong conservation activit
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AreaDatesSurveyTypeEffortSpeciesNo.
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Phase ofActionPlan
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[Small cetaceans are defined to inc
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f) recognizing that by-catch in fis
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130 CMS Technical Series Publicatio
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APPENDIX 9Abstracts of</str
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The (IUCN Critically Endangered) Du
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Status of
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Cetacean Habitats in the</s
Page 141 and 142:
Conservation of <s
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Summary of Current
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Indonesia’s Cetacean Migration Co
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Conservation Effort to Protect <str
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The Status of <str
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Can the Developing
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Status and Conservation of<
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Legal Hunting of C
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Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins (T
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Feasibility Study of</stron
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Songs of a Humpbac
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