Mahakam Dolphins Rescue

On 2 March 2009, a successful rescue operation took place for a pair of mother and calf Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mahakam River. They were trapped in a temporarily flooded swamp lake behind the village of Pela near Semayang Lake, which was about to dry out soon. RASI was contacted by concerned local villagers and directly set up a rescue operation. After arrival at the location, and a few hours of trying to herd the dolphins with 100 boats/ 200 people to the most shallow part of the 'lake', mother and calf by sunset were finally enclosed. Thereafter, they were lifted out of the water and carried 50m overland and finally with a great deal of effort by several men carried down from a steep slope to reach the Mahakam after which both dolphins were safely released. Both dolphins about 40 minutes later swam back very close to the raft where they were released and spy-hopped. A similar rescue operation was done in 2003 in similar circumstances but at that time the lone dolphin could still be transported in a boat to reach the Mahakam. Now the water in the connecting channel was also too shallow for boats to enter. To prevent any further events, after discussion with local villagers, RASI hopes to set up a kind of dolphin task force/ patrol team consisting of a small group of concerned villagers that would regularly but randomly patrol illegal activities such as electro-fishing etc. They would also block some dolphin passages to periodically inundated swamps by wooden pillars at high water and check out other areas where they may get trapped in swamps as well as guide rescues from gillnet entanglements. RASI hopes to enable these dolphin task force/ patrol team dedicated to protect natural fish resources and dolphins in four dolphin core areas.