BHUBANESWAR : Gharial conservation in Odisha has taken another leap forward with birth of 29 more crocodile babies in the freshwaters of Mahanadi river this year, making it the fifth consecutive breeding of the threatened species in the river system. PCCF (wildlife)-cum-chief wildlife warden Prem Kumar Jha informed that the gharial hatchlings were found in Baldamara area of the river within Satkosia gorge sanctuary.
“Gharial conservation is crucial from an ecological standpoint. The fish-eating crocodile plays a key role in maintaining health and biodiversity of the freshwater ecosystem,” he added. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also called for conservation of gharial species in the country and in line with his national gharial conservation programme, the state government rolled out the second phase of its ‘gharial species recovery project’ recently to revive the population of the fish-eating crocodiles in Mahanadi river system.
“Considering these conservation efforts, the successful breeding of gharials in Mahanadi river for the fifth consecutive year is a great success for Odisha as well as the entire country,” Jha said.
Divisional forest officer of Satkosia wildlife division Saroj Kumar Panda said as part of the conservation efforts, surroundings of the nesting site in Satkosia gorge was declared a no-fishing zone and ban on all kinds of fishing activities imposed.
Fencing has also been done along the river banks to protect the area. “The site has now been secured and all human activities restricted for the next 48 hours as more gharial babies are expected to hatch,” Panda said. He further added that the hatchlings would be monitored through CCTV surveillance. The breeding of gharials in their natural habitat in Mahanadi was first witnessed in 2021 after a gap of nearly 40 years.
According to forest officials, Mahanadi is the southernmost limit of gharials in India. It was on the verge of getting locally extinct until the species recovery programme was launched in 2019. Accordingly, the same year, around 20 gharials were reintroduced in the river near Tikarpada in the first phase.
Around 28 hatchlings were found in a nest in Baldamara area of the river within Satkosia gorge sanctuary in May 2021 after a gap of nearly four decades. Eventually, 30 baby crocodiles took birth at the same site in 2022 and 35 each in 2023 and 2024, informed forest officials. The second phase of the programme was launched in April.