National Board of Wild Life initiative to save Gangetic River Dolphins

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Wildlife board to look after Ganges dolphins

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Patna, Feb 25 (IANS) Although called the sons of the Ganges, the number of

freshwater dolphins has been falling due to pollution and poaching. The

National Board for Wildlife (NBW) has now decided to come to the rescue of

the endangered species. The NBW has, for the first time, selected freshwater

dolphins for conservation along with five other endangered species - the

snow

leopard<http://amazon.com/gp/product/B000EWMJ8K?ie=UTF8 & tag=thainindiaint-20 & lin\

k_code=em1 & camp=212341 & creative=384049 & creativeASIN=B000EWMJ8K & adid=8125f835-7a8\

9-4159-8805-8e9d4a0f89d3>,

Kashmiri stag, wild buffalo, great Indian bustard and Jerdon's courser.

 

Official sources said the NBW would be allocated funds for the conservation

work under the next five-year plan.

 

According to official estimates, India's river

dolphin<http://amazon.com/gp/product/B000N3W638?ie=UTF8 & tag=thainindiaint-20 & lin\

k_code=em1 & camp=212341 & creative=384049 & creativeASIN=B000N3W638 & adid=7d61a5e3-e5a\

e-4885-ba83-f2e3a8f61820>population

is a little over 1,500. Half of these are found in the Ganges in

Bihar but their numbers have dropped drastically over the past few decades.

In the 1980s, the Gangetic delta alone had around 3,500 dolphins.

 

Studies have identified pollution and poaching as the major factors behind

the fall in the number of river dolphins. The rapidly shrinking Ganges and

the river's changing course are also threatening the dolphins.

 

The dolphins are often killed for their skin and oil. Fishermen also kill

them to use their fat to prepare fish bait.

 

" Dolphins are locally called the sons of the Ganges

river<http://amazon.com/gp/product/1597263869?ie=UTF8 & tag=thainindiaint-20 & link_\

code=em1 & camp=212341 & creative=384049 & creativeASIN=1597263869 & adid=5e075e53-e866-\

4a93-97a0-37f1d2905d46>,

but pollution and rampant fishing are threatening their existence, " said

Gopal Sharma, a researcher.

 

R.K. Sinha, who heads the central government's dolphin conservation project,

said the dolphins would disappear unless urgent steps were taken to clean up

the Ganges.

 

Nearly a decade ago, a dolphin sanctuary - the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin

Sanctuary - was set up on the Ganges at Kahalgaon near Bhagalpur. This is

Asia's only fresh water dolphin sanctuary, spread over a 50 km stretch of

the Ganges.

 

In 1996, freshwater dolphins were categorised as endangered by the

International Union for Conservation of

Nature<http://amazon.com/gp/product/155963085X?ie=UTF8 & tag=thainindiaint-20 & link\

_code=em1 & camp=212341 & creative=384049 & creativeASIN=155963085X & adid=7dd17f8b-861e\

-4037-8b1d-474e1ca99368>(IUCN).

 

Despite an order issued by the Patna High Court in 2001 that asked the state

government to check poaching, at least three dolphins were reportedly killed

last year.