The Ganges River dolphin is one of the most elusive of riverine species, making photo-ID close to impossible. Photos: WDCSThe Bihar government in India has directed officials to stop dolphin hunting in the Ganga River. The highly endangered Gangetic dolphin was declared National Aquatic Animal on Monday. A century ago, these dolphins were found across Nepal, India and Bangladesh. But by 1982, the dolphin population in India had fallen to between 4000 and present estimates show there are only 2,000 dolphins left in the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna river systems due to excessive pollution.
Kahalgaon marks the eastern boundary of the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary in Bihar, India. The 60 km long sanctuary is heavily populated by humans and cattleThe Ganges river dolphin, a shy, almost blind obligate freshwater cetacean, has been assigned the status Endangered by the IUCN Red List, 2007. The Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) in Bihar was designated in 1991 and till date happens to be the only protected area in India especially designated for conservation of this species. This 60-km stretch of the Ganges River between Sultanganj and Kahalgaon has a very high population of poor people dependent directly on the river for diverse needs from agriculture to fisheries. Local threats from over-fishing and pollution, as well as future threats like inland waterways threaten the ecology of the dolphins in the river.
Conservation efforts by the Vikramshila Biodiversity Research and Education Centre, Bhagalpur and WDCS (Whales and Dolphins Conservation Society) over the last decade have helped sustain and safeguard the sanctuary population, and have offered the basis for a quantitative exploratory study of the environmental, ecological and anthropogenic determinants of dolphin habitat usage in the sanctuary.
