With three calves, Ganges dolphin population up to 36 in UP: Census

MEERUT: Three healthy calves have added to the population of fresh water dolphin in river Ganga as a seven-day census came to an end on Tuesday. This year, a total of 36 Ganges river dolphins were spotted, three more than last year’s tally of 33.


WWF-India and Uttar Pradesh forest department’s divisions of five districts -- Bijnor, Meerut, Hapur , Amroha and Bulandshahar -- jointly conducted the census along the Hastinapur Wildlife sanctuary and Narora Ramsar site within the upper Ganga river stretch from October 9 to 15.

A majority of these aquatic mammals were found in Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary that stretches from Bijnor Barrage to Garh Mukteshwar in Hapur, showing a marked shift in its habitat upstream. A few were also spotted in country’s only Ramsar site earmarked for dolphin conservation, stretching from Garh Mukteshwar to Narora. This is the northern most reach in the country where this mammal exists today.

Ramsar sites are considered to be of international importance for conserving biological diversity and out of 27 such sites in the India, save the one in UP, the rest are for avian species.

The Ganges dolphin is listed by the IUCN as “endangered” on their Red List of Threatened Species. This mammal, also called Susu due to the sound it makes while surfacing from water to breathe, lives in one of the most densely populated regions of the world. One of the main threats to the species is loss of habitat due in creation of dams on the tributaries of the Ganga and irrigation projects. It requires a certain depth of water to exist and cannot survive in shallow pools. Besides, water pollution has forced this dolphin to be pushed into a small stretch of the river.

“A narrow water channel coupled with good depth in Hastinapur sanctuary could be an important contributing factor to the marked habitat shift of dolphins here. The just concluded census witnessed five dolphins in Ramsar site and 31 in Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary,” revealed WWF senior coordinator Sanjeev Yadav.

Speaking with TOI, an upbeat divisional forest officer of Meerut Aditi Sharma said, “The initiative to conserve dolphins at the Ramsar site had begun in 2015 with 30 dolphins. Today, we have 36 and most of them were spotted in Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary. Considering the fact that this mammal gives birth only once in a couple of years, the rise in its population is quite encouraging and three calves also show the favourable habitat for them.”

This year, dolphin expert Gill Braulik also participated in the census and used the tandem boat survey method which comprises two boats, a few observers and two data recorders. These two boats are at a constant distance of a kilometre from each other. The team also observed “no threat to water habitat of the mammals from poaching, garbage dumping or illegal mining”.