Legal Protection for Ganges River Dolphin

After some fisherman beat a Ganges River Dolphin, they tried to sell this rare animal but were unsuccessful in their attempt. Due to nobody purchasing the remains of the Ganges River Dolphin, the fisherman decided to lay it in front of a museum. The rare animal will be in display at the museum for all to see.

The fisherman reportedly killed the dolphin because they said that they had never seen this kind of animal before. The killing of the Ganges River Dolphin has left many wondering why this animal is so rare and what they can do to protect them.

Over the course of time, there have been many dolphins that have been on the verge of becoming extinct. There are legal protections against killing dolphins and the Ganges River Dolphin is no exception.

The International Dolphin Conservation Act was set up to help protect the dolphins against anyone country who have purse-seines set on schools of dolphins. The Act works by providing each country that does not follow this law will have a trade embargoed placed on them by the United States. This Act also established the United States as a dolphin-safe zone which made it illegal for anyone to sell, purchase, offer for sale, transport, or ship tuna or tuna products that are not considered to be dolphin-safe.

The International Dolphin Conservation Act also allowed the United States to provide three million dollars for research on alternative fishing technologies which would decrease the amount of dolphins that would be in harms way of fisherman in search of tuna and other sea animals.

The United States has taken note of the endangered animal and has set aside a law that prohibits the hunting or the use of dolphin in any way in an effort to make the population of dolphins increase instead of decreasing like they have been in the past years. The Act is the Marine Mammal Protection Act and it states that anyone who is under legal jurisdiction of the United States cannot harm, harass, or hunt any marine mammal.

There are researches set up that also help to establish new ways of keeping these animal safe and repopulating them so that they do not become extinct. The dolphins have become an endangered species because of the threats that have been placed on them by such things as marine pollution, harvesting, entanglement in fishing gear, boat traffic, and the hunting that some fisherman do for the dolphins and other sea animals.

Sources:
Maine Mammal Protection Act

Endangered Species act

Defenders of Wildlife