Chilka Lake boasts of high dolphin numbers

[Guest guest]

Link:

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb252007/national2227412007224.asp

 

Chilka Lake boasts of high dolphin numbers

From S T Beuria DH News Service Bhubaneswar:

 

The population of rare Irrawaddy dolphins have gone up in Orissa's

Chilka lake despite their repeated killings by mechanised boats used

for tourism purposes.

 

The famous lake has also earned the distinction of housing the maximum

number of these endangered dolphins among the lagoons in the world,

official of the Chilka Development Authority(CDA), the government of

Orissa agency in charge of looking after Asia's biggest brackish water

lake, have claimed.

 

The CDA had recently conducted the first ever scientific census of the

rare dolphins in the lake. According to Sudarshan Panda, the chief

executive officer (CEO) of the CDA, for the first time the census was

carried out with the help of global positioning system(GPS) sets. Till

now, the counting of dolphins was being carried out in the lake on the

basis of sightings.

 

3 generations

 

During the census which was conducted last Tuesday, 135 Irrawaddy

dolphins were found in different parts of the lagoon. Of them, while

115 were adults, 15 were sub-adults and five calves. Maximum dolphins

were sighted in the lake's outer channel which connects the

picturesque lagoon with the Bay of Bengal.

 

The dolphin population in the lake was 131 during the enumeration

carried out in 2006. However, their number had gone down to 128 by the

year end with the death of eight dolphins due to various reasons

including crash with motorised tourists boats.

 

To facilitate the movement of the dolphins, the CDA has already

started dredging the lake's southern channel with the technical

support of IIT, Madras, Central Water and Power Research Centre and

National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.

 

Besides, a study is also in progress with the help of University of

Tokyo, Japan, on the activities of the rare dolphins both under and

above the water.

 

Irrawaddy dolphin is a highly endangered species with an estimated

total population of only 1000 in the entire world.