(IN): Boats ply, dolphins die

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Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071025/asp/frontpage/story_8468840.asp

 

Boats ply, dolphins die

LALMOHAN PATNAIK

 

Cuttack, Oct. 24: Tourists visiting the Chilika Lake may soon miss the sight

of the rare Irrawaddy dolphins that are in peril owing to the threat posed

by unregulated operation of a large number of mechanised boats and ferries

carrying tourists to the lake.

 

At least 10 dolphins are reportedly killed every year after being injured by

the propeller blades of fishing boats.

 

Orissa is the natural habitat of the Irrawady dolphin (*Orcealla

brevirostris*), which has a low breeding rate. With a gestation period of

nine months, it produces only one offspring in three years, experts said.

 

There are only two places in the world where these dolphins can be found —

one at the Songkhla Lake in Thailand and the other at Chilika. Only a few of

them can be found in the Songkhla but the number is quite high in Chilika.

 

Promotion of eco-tourism in Chilika Lake had resulted in the rise of

tourists over the past few years and Satpada had emerged as a major tourist

destination with the dolphins as the major attraction.

 

State tourism minister Debi Prasad Mishra had recently assured to provide

more and more fibre boats for the tourists.

 

The census conducted by the Chilika Development Authority (CDA) in 2006 had

revealed presence of 123 dolphins inside the lake.

 

CDA sources said about 28 dolphins had died in the lake since 2004. While 17

dolphins were killed in 2004-05, the casualty figures were eight and three

in 2005-06 and 2006-07, respectively.

 

Unofficial sources, on the other hand, put the number of deaths during the

period at more than 50. Wildlife activists said the dolphin casualty occurs

mostly between October and March when tourist inflow to the area is more.

 

Most of the fishermen of Satpada and Balugaon become tour operators during

this period and take boatloads of tourists to the lake to show them the

dolphins.

 

Nearly 600 boats take the tourists to the lake's outer channel near

Mahisa-Berhampura, Alupatna, Magarmukh and Rajhans in the southern sector

where the dolphins are mostly sighted.

 

The ferries also take the tourists to Balugaon, Nalabana and Rambha areas

where the dolphins had been sighted since the opening of the new mouth of

the lake.

 

Most of these boats are fitted with " noisy and polluting engines " harmful

for the dolphins.

 

" They are actually fishing boats, running on Lombardi engines, which, unlike

the outboard motor engines, have six-feet propellers jutting out of the rear

of the boats. These boats usually keep circling the animals till the

tourists have got a nice view, " said B. Mohanty, secretary, Wildlife Society

of Orissa.

 

" When 10 to 15 boats encircle the dolphins, the panic-stricken mammals try

to swim away. But they collide with these boats, thereby getting injured by

the propeller blades. They later succumb to the injuries, " Mohanty added.

 

WSO has over the past few years pressed for " sustainable and regulated

tourism " in Chilika Lake to prevent the dolphins from becoming extinct.

 

 

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