Caught in finishing nets, forest officials to release it into the Budhabalang river
Local fisherman carried the dolphin on their shoulders and released it into the village pond. Photo: Ashis Senapati A fisherman in Odisha’s Balasore district captured a rare and endangered Gangetic dolphin in the Jalaka river on January 18, 2024. Forest department officials then rescued the dolphin from a pond locals put it in and are planning to release it into Budhabalang river soon.
Freshwater dolphins are critically endangered and only found in four river systems around the world, including Ganga river, according to Sudhakar Kar, wildlife scientist and former wildlife researcher at the Odisha Forest Department.
A man from Nalabahara village in Chandipur forest range caught the dolphin in his fishing net in the wee hours of the day. The local fisherfolk then carried the aquatic mammal and released it into a pond at Nalabahara village.
“We will soon release it in Budhabalang river because dolphins cannot live in ponds,” said Ganesh Prasad Lenka, forest range officer of Chandipur Forest Range, Balasore Forest Division.
In India, the aquatic mammal is found in the Ganga and its tributaries, but sometimes stray into other rivers. These dolphins are different from marine dolphins in that they are blind by birth, have a greyish body and a long snout. It is a Schedule One protected animal under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and categorised as endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species, added Kar.
Irrawaddy dolphins reside in estuary areas of Chilika lake and salty sea water near the coast is the abode of humpback and Bottlenose dolphins in Gahirmatha. The presence of a Gangetic dolphin in Jalaka river indicates that more freshwater dolphins are residing in it. The forest department should conduct a study on the population of this rare freshwater mammal, added Kar.
The dolphin species was last seen in the state on October 23, 2020, when a dead Gangetic dolphin was found in Govari river, near village Kaikula in Odisha’s Kendrapada district. Before that, a carcass of a Gangetic dolphin was found in Bhitarkanika waters in 1978. The forest department preserved its skeleton and displayed it in the animal museum in the park.
“In 2006, forest officials located a female Gangetic dolphin in Budhabalanga river in Balasore. Chilika Development Authority, the state forest department and some scientists from Japan studied the creature. It passed away in 2014,” said Kar. “We are elated that a Gangetic dolphin was found after many years in the state.”
In 2009, Gangetic dolphins were declared the national aquatic animal of India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced ‘Project Gangetic Dolphin’ on August 15, 2023 for the conservation of the Gangetic dolphins.
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