GANGETIC DOLPHIN AND CROCODILE COUNT

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Sundarban dolphins and crocodiles to be countedPublished: Sunday, 14 August,

2005, 11:43 AM Doha Time

 

KOLKATA: The first ever census of endangered dolphins and crocodiles in the

Sundarban mangroves will begin in December.

 

“Both the species are endangered and listed on schedule I of the Wildlife

Protection Act and hence our decision to hold a census to count their exact

population from December end to January,” Sundarban Biosphere Reserve joint

director Niraj Singhal told IANS.

 

“We have got our men trained under the Orissa forest department for the purpose

and the method of counting would be direct sighting,” he said.

 

“The entire Indian Sundarban area will be divided into several zones and we will

form different teams that will count them,” said Singhal. “The dolphins pop out

of the water frequently and so we can count them when they are sighted.”

 

All three species of crocodiles present in the Indian subcontinent are found in

the region. These are estuarine crocodiles, muggers and gharials - one of the

largest of the species with males reaching 23 feet in length.

 

The gharial is on the brink of extinction in the Sunderbans because it is

intensively hunted. Eggs are collected for medicinal purposes, and males are

hunted for their bulbous-tipped snout, which is thought to be an aphrodisiac.

 

“The dwindling number of the Gangetic dolphin has been a cause of concern for

conservationists for long. We will begin the census in late December this year

to pinpoint how many dolphins actually populate the rivers and creeks of this

estuarine delta,” Atanu Raha, director of the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, had

said earlier.

 

Alongside the Gangetic dolphins, the census would also conduct a headcount for

its cousin, the Irrawady variety, generally found in Myanmar.

 

River dolphins were once a common sight, but now they face threats from

pollution, erosion and degradation of their habitat.

 

Conservationists are also fighting to protect dolphins in the Bangladeshi part

of Sundarban. The nearly 10,000 sq km Sunderban mangroves, along the coast of

the Bay of Bengal, are also one of the last surviving natural habitats of the

tiger. – Indo-Asian News Service