Report of the Second Workshop on The Biology and Conservation of ...

village goes to sea in fishing boats to search forwhales for <strong>the</strong> purpose <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>fering <strong>the</strong>m prayers(Smith et al. 1997). In <strong>the</strong> nor<strong>the</strong>rn part <strong>of</strong> Vietnam,dolphins and whales are not venerated as <strong>the</strong>y arein <strong>the</strong> south; whale temples are rare, and cetaceansby-caught or stranded are usually buried in <strong>the</strong>sand.Description <strong>of</strong> existing research programsThere are currently no dedicated research programsfor marine mammals in Vietnam. WWF recentlyconducted an exploratory survey <strong>of</strong> dugongs inPhu Quoc and <strong>the</strong> Con Dao Islands and plans tocontinue research on dugongs in Vietnam. CMSand <strong>the</strong> IUCN SSC Cetacean Specialist Group alsoconducted, in collaboration with <strong>the</strong> ResearchInstitute <strong>of</strong> Marine Products, Haiphong Institute<strong>of</strong> Oceanography, and Nha Trang Institute <strong>of</strong>Oceanography, a training course on cetaceanresearch techniques and surveys in <strong>the</strong> Gulf <strong>of</strong>Tonkin during 1999 and 2000.Needs for additional researchAssessments <strong>of</strong> direct and incidental catchesshould be integrated as part <strong>of</strong> fisheries monitoringactivities. This will require training programsfor fisheries <strong>of</strong>ficers and <strong>the</strong> establishment <strong>of</strong>standardized techniques. A dedicated researchprogram is needed to investigate <strong>the</strong> status<strong>of</strong> humpback dolphins in <strong>the</strong> Nam Trieu Rivermouth. In addition, a comprehensive inventory andmorphometrics study on skeletal materials storedat whale temples could yield valuable informationon species occurrence and <strong>the</strong> population structure<strong>of</strong> cetaceans in SE Asia.Present and potential whale and dolphinwatching operationsThe low density <strong>of</strong> cetaceans in most Vietnamesewaters, with <strong>the</strong> possible exception <strong>of</strong> humpbackdolphins in <strong>the</strong> Nam Trieu River mouth, make <strong>the</strong>potential for dolphin and whale watching poor.2.2 Small Cetacean Species ReviewsThe following update from <strong>the</strong> 1995 report wascompiled from <strong>the</strong> available documents and verbalreports by <strong>the</strong> participants. The strictly freshwaterYangzi river dolphin, Lipotes vexillifer, was notsubstantively reviewed at this meeting, as it isdistributed outside <strong>the</strong> study area considered.Data available at <strong>the</strong> workshop on relativeabundance <strong>of</strong> small cetaceans in surveys werecompiled and discussed (Appendix 5). The mostcommonly encountered species in oceanic surveysin <strong>the</strong> Sulu Sea was <strong>the</strong> spinner dolphin, whileRisso’s dolphin predominated <strong>of</strong>f Taiwan and <strong>the</strong>rough-too<strong>the</strong>d dolphin in <strong>the</strong> Babuyan Islands <strong>of</strong>f<strong>the</strong> nor<strong>the</strong>rn Philippines. In coastal surveys, whichby and large were less extensive and had smallertotal numbers <strong>of</strong> sightings, <strong>the</strong> most commonspecies was variously <strong>the</strong> humpback dolphin,finless porpoise, Irrawaddy dolphin and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin.2.2.1 Neophocaena phocaenoidesDistributionThe global distribution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> finless porpoiseappears to be highly fragmented. The 1995workshop report stated that <strong>the</strong> species occurredin <strong>the</strong> Philippines. The records from northwesternPalawan that served as <strong>the</strong> basis for that statement,however, have since been found to be in error. Thus,<strong>the</strong> finless porpoise is not confirmed to occur in <strong>the</strong>Philippines, although it does occur along some <strong>of</strong><strong>the</strong> islands <strong>of</strong> nor<strong>the</strong>astern Borneo (Doc. 10), veryclose to Philippine territorial waters. The specieshas now been confirmed from Cambodian waters(Doc. 34).Population/stock structureA recent study <strong>of</strong> geographic variation in skullmorphology (Jefferson 2002a) indicated that <strong>the</strong>reare at least three geographical forms <strong>of</strong> finless<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 67