About me
My name is Julia Goss and I’m a born and raised St. Louisan, avid coffee drinker, loyal Cardinals fan, travel enthusiast, swimmer, biker, runner, and dog lover. I’m also extremely passionate about preserving our world’s oceans and striving to forge mutually beneficial and sustainable relationships between humans and the oceans’ ecosystems. Since high school I’ve been trying to determine exactly how I can translate this passion into an actual profession. Although I’m still on my way (and am realizing there is never a true ending point), I recently completed my masters degree in Coastal Environmental Management at Duke University which helped provide me additional expertise and opened the door to multiple opportunities.
After finishing up at Duke I looked for an opportunity to travel, spend time in the field, and if I was lucky, assist on a pressing conservation issue. Through the assistance of my advisor, Dr. Andy Read, I was awarded a Fulbright Grant to travel to Cambodia for 10 months. During this time I will be living in Kratie, Cambodia working with the World Wildlife Fund to study the endangered population of Irrawaddy river dolphins that inhabit the Mekong River. Below is a short description about the work and why I believe it’s important!
Map of the Mekong River running from the Laos/Cambodian border to the Vietnamese Delta.
Beasley, I., K. Pollock, et al. "Likely future extirpation of another Asian river dolphin: the critically endangered population of the Irrawaddy dolphin in the Mekong River is small and declining." Marine Mammal Science: 1-27.
About the research
The Irrawaddy dolphin population inhabiting the Mekong River from Kratie in Cambodia to Khone Falls in southern Lao PDR is critically endangered with a population estimate of only 85 individuals. The drastic decline is due to the harvest of dolphins for oil in the 1970’s and intensive fishing utilizing gillnets and explosives throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s. Despite restrictions against these harmful fishing practices, recent assessments indicate the population is not recovering primarily due to a high rate of calf mortality. Pathology reports have ruled out disease, gill net entanglement, and contaminants as causative factors, but one possible cause of calf mortality is infanticide, which is known to occur in dolphin species.
In killing an infant, a male dolphin may increase the probability he will breed successfully because the female will begin ovulating shortly after her calf dies. In the Mekong River, the likelihood of such behavior could be increased because groups of dolphins become effectively trapped in pools during the dry season. If an unbalanced sex ratio exists in such groups, males could kill dependent calves to create the opportunity to breed with females. To determine if infanticide is causing high Irrawaddy calf mortality we (the WWF team and I) will be conducting behavioral observations using focal animal sampling techniques. Essentially, what this means is we will be spending time out on the Mekong River observing these dolphins and watching for aggressive behavior directed at the calves.
Irrawaddy river dolphin http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered _species/cetaceans/about/irrawaddy_dolphin/
Another interesting aspect of this conservation issue is the Irrawaddy dolphin tourism industry provides a livelihood for those living in Kratie Province. The Cambodian government’s tourism website proclaims Kratie Province the “Home of the Freshwater River Dolphins” and multiple advertisements and travel blogs encourage tourists to view the Irrawaddy dolphins in their natural habitat. This tourism industry is gravely threatened by the precipitous decline of the Irrawaddy dolphin. Because researchers have ruled out multiple factors causing this decline, it is worth examining the effect of these tour boats on the dolphin population as well. Through land-based observations we plan to conduct some preliminary analyses on the effects of tourism.
Given the critically endangered status of the Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphins and the importance they play to the region’s economy it is imperative researchers determine the cause of the population’s high calf mortality rate. With this in mind, these behavioral observations should provide additional insight to researchers and, at the very least, eliminate hypotheses so that we can get one step closer to figuring out what is or is not causing these high mortality rates.
About the Blog
Over the course of the next year I’m going to do my best to provide a snapshot of my adventures and chronicle how the research is progressing. I may post more pictures than actual writing, but hopefully the blog will communicate the highlights and challenges I experience!
Note: This blog is not an official Department of State website and the views and information presented are my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program, the World Wildlife Fund, or the Department of State.
Irrawaddy river dolphin