In September 2017, Marine Conservation Cambodia launched the Cambodian Marine Mammal Conservation Project (CMMCP), the first long-term marine mammal research program in the coastal waters of Kep province, Cambodia. CMMCP aims to support the conservation of Kep’s marine Mammals, the main focus of the first year was researching the Irrawaddy dolphins through collecting missing baseline data that can be used to create tailored dolphin conservation legislation in the Kep region. This report details activities, findings and successes of CMMCP’s first twelve months in the field, ending with a presentation of tailored conservation suggestions for the Kep region.

We would like to thank the Fisheries Administration of the Royal Government of Cambodia for all their support throughout. Much appreciation also goes to The International Conservation Fund of Canada, The Heinrich Böll Foundation and Chelonia Ltd for their economic support/equipment donation.

Great short video clip from the beginning of the Dutch, Helden van de Wildernis (Hero in the wild) Documentary covering the work of MCC and  MCC's founder Paul Ferber, created by Warner Brothers Netherlands.

Here is a link to the full documentary Helden van de Wildernis, Cambodia.

We are Very happy to have finally completed the 2017 Marine Assessments of Koh Seh, Koh Man Prang and Koh Angkrong.

With Koh Seh and Koh Angkrong now being Conservation Areas within the new MFMA, we hope that next years assessments will continue to show a recovery of the areas, Koh Man Prang should also show some improvement as this area will be classed as a tourism zone, which does not allow fishing activities.

The Koh Seh report is an interesting read and shows well the improvements that can be made with good marine protection and a pro-active approach to conservation.

Wonderful short video from our amazing Liger Marine Research Team students.

We truly believe that it will be the young generations of Cambodia that will take up the fight to protect their marine environments, this short video shows the dedication and passion of our first young Khmer students.

MCC is happy to announce a new partnership with the Waitt Foundation! Like the National Geographic Society, they will support our work towards the deployment of our artificial reef project! 

2 new positions are available at MCC! Click and check out if you can be the candidate we need. Sharpen your humour and if you are seriously interested, contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

Chiara Gambini - A Trip To Ho Chi Min - 12th November 2018

Hey guys!

Are you ready to read the latest exciting news from MCC?

Well, we had such an intense week. Two team members had the great chance to attend a 2-day workshop at the University of Science in Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam). The event was hosted by Mr. Long Vu and Dr.Cornelia Oedekoven, who came from the University of St.Andrews in Scotland. Mr.Long Vu is carrying out a project on the Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) in Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve (KGBR), the only location in Vietnam where Irrawaddy dolphins have recently been observed in their natural habitat. The project aims to provide critical baseline data on bycatch of Irrawaddy dolphin in KGBR. The specific objectives involve evaluating the magnitude of the Irrawaddy dolphin in KGBR, identifying areas that have high bycatch risk and to providing conservation recommendations to the management board of KGBR to mitigate bycatch risks. Given that the project is using distance sampling methodologies, Mr.Long Vu invited Dr.Cornelia Oedekoven, who is an expert in this field. The workshop started with an introduction to distance sampling: a statistical methodology that can provide data on Irrawaddy dolphin abundance. We were trained to use a specific software, called “Distance”, which allows scientists to build up a systematic distance sampling transect design to get a more representative area of the focal marine mammal species. At the end of the explanation we practised with some excercises, trying to figure out how everything looked like and what we could achieve through this method. On the second day, Dr.Cornelia Oedekoven introduced us to Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM). Through the use of PAM devices, scientists can estimate cetacean abundance. To this purpose, the workshop continued with an incredible conference call from Canada. Dr.Tom Norris, founder and chief scientist of Bio-Waves Company in Encinitas (San Diego), showed us one of the latest hydrophones designed. This hydrophone, named MicroMars, is being used in Mr.Long Vu’s research project. The workshop then came to an end. We really believe it was a great opportunity for knowledge exchange. Sharing ideas, concepts and problems with local and international scientists is always important. Our experience in Vietnam ended with a preliminary survey, looking for Irrawaddy Dolphins in Vietnam’s KGBR. Unfortunately, due to the rough conditions of the sea, we didn’t spotted any dolphins, but at least we could join Mr.Long Vu and his team on the survey, practising what we had learnt during the workshop.

The workshop was definitely an eye opening experience, and will hopefully lead to further collaborations between Mr Long Vu in the future. Even though the field research area always faces  some issues, such as weather conditions, boats availability and financial constraints, we truly believe on the importance of studying this endangered species, in order to provide meaningful data to the Government to implement the legislation.

We would love to thank Mr.Long Vu for inviting us and for being such a great host during the whole trip. A special thank goes to Dr.Cornelia Oedekoven for her precious knowledge and science background. She is the inspiring woman everyone in this field should follow. Besides the academic context, we enjoyed Vietnam with the great company of everyone. We couldn’ask anything better from the week and we are definitely ready to welcome Mr.Long Vu back to the island of Koh Seh!

Stay tuned guys! Other exciting news are coming soon..

One month ago, one of our volunteers, Doug left our island after volunteering with us for one month. He really loved it, and created a picture album about his stay. On each picture, you'll find a small description of what happened while he was taking the picture. He actually did that for his entire month, and try to communicate what was happening here in his own way. Just below, you'll find the link of his album.

We all gathered around the grave to receive a briefing from Sarah Tubbs, chief dolphin excavator, at 3pm. The plan was to set up separate stations for the unearthed dolphin bones to be washed, dried, drawn, numbered and finally, assembled. Jasmine and I were tasked with the cleaning and drying of the bones. The plan was to start with the skull and to work our way down the skeleton one at a time to make identification and assembly of the skeleton easier.