THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Another dolphin found dead; villagers point finger at hunters

Another dolphin found dead; villagers point finger at hunters

Another dead pink dolphin was found washed up on a beach in Nakhon Si Thammarat's Pak Phanang district yesterday. While coastal villagers revealed that a hunting group from outside had used pair trawls to hunt dolphins in the area, as the fish could yiel

The two-metre-long female dolphin carcass, weighing 200kg, was found in Tambon Pak Phanang Tawan-ok and possibly had been dead for five days. It was the second case in three days after the death of a dolphin in Sichon district, which was presumed to have been caused by the fish swallowing globules of oil following the oil spill at Si Chon beach on November 19.
Villager Aporn Charoenpol, 53, who found the dolphin’s carcass in Pak Phanang, said several varieties of dolphins lived in the area. Some outside hunters, who used pair trawls to fish in the Ao Phanang area, also caught live dolphins to sell elsewhere. 
Another fisherman, who did not want to be named, said the pair trawls were possibly from Samut Prakan or nearby provinces because he had heard them talking in the Central Thai dialect. “These people came in 20 pair trawls to fish at Ao Phanang without fear of law. They also took dolphins – along with other marine lives – in a large tank with oxygen,” he added. 
A scientist, who asked not to be named, concurred with the villagers’ testimony that dolphin hunters were real and mostly used large fishing boats with heavy tools. He said the group caught fish as per normal but also took dolphins, caught in the net, and kept them in a large tank. The dolphins would be sold mid-sea at a six-digit price for a whole and healthy dolphin, he said. He added that dolphins from the Gulf of Thailand were sold to aquariums in Asean countries, especially those that had dolphin shows. 
“Fishermen spotting the group should try to record images as evidence but should stay far because the group could be hostile,” the scientist warned, urging the Fisheries Department and the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources to implement measures to protect these animals. 
 
 
 
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