Why first-ever satellite tagging of Ganges dolphins is important Breaking news

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First Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica) was tagged in Assam on Thursday (December 18), in what is considered a historic milestone for Project Dolphin, a movement aimed at protecting India’s national aquatic animal.

The tagging exercise will help understand the species’ seasonal and migratory patterns, range, distribution, and habitat use, especially in fragmented or obstructed river systems, according to a press release from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

Ganges River Dolphins

There are about 40 extant species in several families known as dolphins. The family Platanistidae includes two extant species of Indian river dolphins – the Indus river dolphin and the Ganges river dolphin, both of which were considered to be a single species until the 1970s.

The Gangetic River Dolphin Conservation Action Plan, 2010–2020 describes male Gangetic dolphins as 2–2.2 m in length and females slightly longer at 2.4–2.6 m. An adult dolphin can weigh between 70 kg and 90 kg. They feed on many species of fish, invertebrates, etc.

Gangetic river dolphins are often found alone or in small groups, and are known to be extremely shy around boats, making it difficult for scientists to observe them.

They go by many local names throughout their range including Susu, Sons, Sons, or Soos in Hindi, Shushuk in Bengali, Hiho or Hihu in Assamese, and Bhagirath, Shus or Suonsu in Nepali. Culturally, the species is often associated with the Ganges and is sometimes depicted as a vahana (vehicle) of the goddess Ganga.

Behind the declining population

Gangetic river dolphins were once found in the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Bangladesh and India, and in the Sapt Koshi and Karnali rivers of Nepal. (see map). There was a time when the Gangetic dolphin could be seen as high up as the foothills of the Himalayas in the Ganges and its tributaries.

Distribution of Indus (blue) and Ganges (orange) river dolphins. (Wikimedia Commons)

However, according to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), the species is now extinct in its original distribution ranges, with only 3,500 to 5,000 individuals surviving today. Both Indus and Gangetic dolphins have been listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List since 1990. This classification indicates that the species has a “very high risk of extinction in the wild”.

There are many factors behind the declining population and endangered status of the species. These include:

  • the construction of dams and barrages in rivers, which restrict the movement and migration patterns, food supply, and breeding behavior of these dolphins;
  • river pollution, which makes habitat unsuitable for these dolphin species and others that depend on it for food;
  • These dolphins hunt for oily blubber, or are accidentally caught in fishing nets; and
  • As rivers dry up and become less navigable, habitats are shrinking.

Conservation efforts

Therefore, since the 1980s, various efforts have been made to conserve the elusive species and restore its population to pre-20th century levels. But so far these efforts have not yielded much fruit.

  1. 01

    Wildlife Protection Act

    Following the launch of the Ganga Action Plan in 1985, in 1986 the government included the Gangetic dolphin in the First Schedule of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. It was intended to check poaching and provide conservation facilities like wildlife sanctuaries for the species. For example, Vikramshila Ganga Dolphin Sanctuary was established in Bihar under this Act.

  2. 02

    Protection Plan

    The government prepared the Ganga River Dolphin Conservation Action Plan 2010-2020, which “identified the threats to Ganga dolphins and reduction of prey base in river transport, irrigation canals and dolphin populations”. The idea was to identify the factors driving population decline of the species as a whole and address these issues.

    National Aquatic Animal: In 2009, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared the Ganges river dolphin as India’s national aquatic animal, in an effort to raise awareness about the species and community participation in its conservation.

  3. 03

    Project Dolphin

    This is the latest effort to help conserve the species launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2020. While announcing the project, Modi said it would be on a project basis. Project TigerWhich has succeeded in reviving the number of tigers in the country.

    The latest dolphin tagging exercise is one of several initiatives undertaken under the project, which according to its website “involves systematic status monitoring of target species and their potential threats to develop and implement a conservation action plan.” The lightweight tags are designed to emit signals that are picked up by satellites when these species are on the surface, which will “contribute to evidence-based conservation strategies that are urgently needed for this species,” said Birendra R Tiwari, director of the Wildlife Institute of India. said

    Specifically, Project Dolphin views the Ganges river dolphin as an “umbrella species” whose conservation “contributes to the well-being of associated habitats and biodiversity, including humans”.

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