Pollution killing Asia's river dolphins: WWF

Asia's dwindling populations of river dolphins are under increasing threat from pollution, dam construction and entanglement in fishermen's nets.

Asia's dwindling populations of river dolphins are under increasing threat from pollution, dam construction and entanglement in fishermen's nets, global nature conservation body WWF said on Monday.

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The warning, issued on the eve of U.N. World Water Day, said only 13 of the dolphins were known to be left in China's Yangtze River where they once proliferated.

In India's vast Ganges and Brahmaputra river systems there were only 2,000, and only 1,100 along the Indus River and its delta in southern Pakistan.

The fate of the dolphins was also a warning for people living near the rivers, Jamie Pittock, director of WWF's Global Freshwater Programme, said on the Web site of the Swiss-based organisation.

"River dolphins are the watchdogs of the water. The high levels of toxic pollutants accumulating in their bodies are a stark warning of poor water quality.

"Clean water is not only vital for the survival of the river dolphin but also for the quality of life for millions of the world's poor," said Pittock.