changeadminTo take forward the conservation of Dolphins in India, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change rolled out the second range-wide estimation of riverine and estuarine dolphins under Project Dolphin from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh.
This follows the release of the population estimation results for the first round to the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) at Gir in March last year.
The Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav, had launched the 2nd round of pan-India population estimation of dolphins and their estimation protocol in Dehradun during the last wildlife week.
This programme is coordinated by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, in collaboration with State Forest Departments and partner conservation organisations, including WWF India, Aaranyak, and Wildlife Trust of India.
A regional training workshop for forest staff from 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh was held yesterday in Bijnor, and further training will be conducted intermittently for every 10–15 districts to ensure standardised field capacity as the survey progresses.
The survey commenced with 26 researchers in three boats, recording ecological and habitat parameters, and using technologies such as hydrophones for underwater acoustic monitoring.
In the first phase, the survey will cover the main stem of the Ganga from Bijnor to Ganga Sagar, as well as the Indus River. In the second phase, it will cover the Brahmaputra, the Ganga’s tributaries, the Sundarbans, and Odisha.
Apart from the Ganges River Dolphin, the survey will assess the status of the Indus River Dolphin and Irrawaddy Dolphins, along with habitat condition, threats, and associated conservation-priority fauna. This initiative will generate robust scientific data to support evidence-based conservation planning and policy action for India’s river ecosystems.
The previous nationwide survey (2021–23) recorded an estimated 6,327 riverine dolphins in India, including Ganges River Dolphins in the Ganga, Yamuna, Chambal, Gandak, Ghaghara, Kosi, Mahananda and Brahmaputra systems, and a small population of Indus River Dolphins in the Beas.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar accounted for the largest numbers, followed by West Bengal and Assam, highlighting the critical importance of the Gangetic basin for long-term dolphin conservation.
The ongoing survey follows the same standardised methodology as the previous exercise; however, it will also cover new stretches and operational areas to include a new species, the Irrawaddy dolphin, in the Sundarbans and Odisha.
This expanded spatial coverage will help update population estimates for this species, assess threats and habitat conditions and support improved conservation planning under Project Dolphin.
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