NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Thursday launched the second nationwide range wide estimation of riverine and estuarine dolphins under Project Dolphin, with the programme commencing from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh.
The programme is being coordinated by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, in collaboration with State Forest Departments and partner conservation organisations such as WWF India, Aaranyak and the Wildlife Trust of India. The survey will follow the same standardised methodology used in previous efforts.
Unlike earlier exercises, this phase will cover new stretches and operational areas and will, for the first time, include the estimation of a new species, the Irrawaddy dolphin, in the Sundarbans and in Odisha.
The commencement of the survey follows the completion of training for forest staff from 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh. In addition, 26 researchers, equipped with three boats, will record ecological and habitat parameters, using technologies such as hydrophones for underwater acoustic monitoring.
In the first phase, the survey will focus on the main stem of the Ganga, from Bijnor to Ganga Sagar, as well as the Indus river. In the second phase, it will cover the Brahmaputra, the tributaries of the Ganga, the Sundarbans and Odisha.
The survey is intended to assist the government in assessing habitat conditions, threats and associated conservation priority fauna. The results are expected to provide a robust scientific dataset to support evidence based conservation planning and policy action for India’s river ecosystems.
The first nationwide survey, conducted between 2021 and 2023, estimated around 6,327 riverine dolphins in India. This included Ganges river dolphins found in the Ganga, Yamuna, Chambal, Gandak, Ghaghara, Kosi, Mahananda and Brahmaputra systems, as well as a small population of Indus river dolphins in the Beas.
According to the initial report, there were approximately 3,275 dolphins in the main stem of the Ganga, 2,414 in its tributaries, 584 in the mainstream of the Brahmaputra, 51 in its tributaries and three in the Beas river.
In the first survey, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar accounted for the largest numbers, followed by West Bengal and Assam, underscoring the critical importance of the Gangetic basin for long term dolphin conservation.
With local participation, the first survey covered 8,507 kilometres across eight states, examining 28 rivers by boat and 30 rivers by road. The final report is set to be released by March 3, 2025.
In October 2023, India participated in discussions on the Global Declaration for River Dolphins in Bogota, Colombia, reaffirming its commitment to global dolphin conservation.