Fishing with direct current electricity and wastewater from gold-panning companies are to blame for the death of a dolphin, sources say. A 10-year-old female dolphin was found dead on December 17 on the shore of Kyaukpon village near Katha Township, Sagaing Region. MP Zaw Thin from Bhamo Township in Kachin State said: It must have been a three-kilowatt dynamo that was used in fishing. It can kill all the underwater creatures in a 100-foot (30-metre) radius. The fishermen who used the prohibited fishing method were usually armed with slingshots and knives and were difficult to arrest, he added. The two companies upstream of the Ayeyawady River were found dumping waste from gold sites in the lakes that open to the river. Cyanide and mercury are used in panning gold. Any lake contaminated with such waste is hostile to fish. I have told Parliament and the minister for natural resources and environmental conservation about the situation. The freshwater resources are already badly harmed. Thein Ko, deputy director at the Katha District fishery department, said: We are still looking into the death of the dolphin. She was pretty old and already lost some teeth when we found her body. The dolphin’s body had an open stomach and had possibly drifted with the current upstream, he said. Electro-fishing is one of the reasons and there can be many others. We have protected the Ayeyawady dolphins between Shwebo and Bhamo. Electro-fishing is widespread here and we have arrested the fishermen who use this method occasionally. The dynamos used in fishing were sophisticated and it would probably take experts to distinguish them from other household generators, he said. The punishment for electro-fishing is at most three months in jail. If the fishermen are found slaughtering protected animals and using prohibited tools, they will get maximum three years and a fine up to K300,000 (US$220).