Sharjah24 - AFP: A pod of endangered Irrawaddy dolphins surface to breathe as their grey heads break the murky waters of the Mekong River in Cambodia, eliciting enthused murmurs from visitors watching from adjacent boats.
The thrilling sight may soon be no more than a memory, as numbers of the endangered mammals dwindle despite efforts to preserve them.
Cambodia has announced tough new restrictions on fishing in the vast river to try and reduce the number of dolphins killed in nets.
But in a country with limited financial resources, it's a huge challenge to enforce the rules on a river hundreds of metres wide that is dotted with islets and lined with dense undergrowth.
"We fear we cannot protect them," says river guard Phon Pharong during a patrol searching for illegal gillnets.
Gillnets -- vertical mesh nets left in the water for long periods -- trap fish indiscriminately and are the main cause of death for dolphins in the Mekong, according to conservationists.
Pharong is one of more than 70 guards who patrol a 120-kilometre (75-mile) stretch of the Mekong from northeastern Kratie province to close to the Laos border.
The guards say their efforts are hampered by limited resources -- and intimidation by fishing gangs.
Mok Ponlork, a fisheries department official who leads the dolphin conservation guards in Kratie, has 44 people to monitor an 85-kilometre stretch but says to do the job effectively he would need at least 60.
Without the staffing, the guards know they are playing a losing game of cat and mouse with those fishing the river.
"If we patrol at night, they don't go. When we return at daytime, they go in the river," Pharong said.
Low wages mean guards are forced to take extra work onshore to support their families, taking them away from patrol duties.
Each guard receives about $65 a month from the government, while WWF funds another $5 for a day of patrolling.
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