First-ever tagging of Ganges River Dolphin completed in Assam to ‘deepen understanding of their conservation’ | India Information – Instances of India

NEW DELHI: In a first-ever such transfer of satellite tv for pc tagging of any species in India, scientists of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) on Wednesday tagged a male Ganges River Dolphin and launched it within the Brahamputra river in Kamrup district in Assam for gathering crucial details about the nation’s nationwide aquatic animal.
The step shall be used for his or her conservation because the know-how will assist in understanding the seasonal and migratory patterns, vary, distribution, and habitat utilisation of this endangered species in India.
Calling it a “historic milestone”, Union setting minister Bhupender Yadav stated the first-ever tagging of Ganges River Dolphin will “deepen our understanding of conserving our Nationwide Aquatic Animal.”
In response to WWF, the inhabitants of Ganges River Dolphin, as soon as current in tens of hundreds of numbers, has dwindled abysmally to lower than 2,000 over the last century owing to direct killing, habitat fragmentation by dams and barrages and indiscriminate fishing.
Roughly 90% of the species’ inhabitants resides in India, traditionally distributed throughout the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli river programs. Regardless of its wide selection, vital data gaps stay resulting from its elusive conduct. It surfaces for under 5-30 seconds at a time, posing a big problem in understanding the ecological wants of the species and for any scientifically sound conservation interventions.
“Tagging is a big development in understanding the ecological wants of river dolphins, which can assist preserve crucial habitats inside these huge river ecosystems. That is important not just for aquatic biodiversity but additionally for sustaining hundreds of people that rely on these assets,” stated Vishnupriya Kolipakam, undertaking investigator, WII.
She stated plans have been underway to increase this initiative to different states inhabited by Ganges River Dolphins to construct a complete understanding of their inhabitants dynamics and habitat necessities.
“Tagging river dolphins will contribute to evidence-based conservation methods which are urgently wanted for this species,” stated Virendra R Tiwari, director, WII.
“The tagging was made potential by developments in know-how. The light-weight tags emit alerts appropriate with Argos satellite tv for pc programs even with restricted surfacing time and are designed to minimise interference with dolphin motion,” stated the be aware launched by the WII on the transfer.
The tagging train was completed underneath the umbrella of Mission Dolphin. It was funded by the setting ministry by means of Nationwide CAMPA authority and carried out by the WII in collaboration with the Assam forest division and Aaranyak, an NGO, to fill current data gaps for the long-term conservation of the species.
WWF-India has recognized habitats of Ganges River Dolphins in 9 stretches in eight rivers as perfect for his or her inhabitants. These embody: Higher Ganga river (Brijghat to Narora) in Uttar Pradesh; Chambal river (as much as 10 km downstream of Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary) in Madhya Pradesh and UP; Ghagra and Gandak rivers in UP and Bihar; Ganga river, from Varanasi to Patna in UP and Bihar respectively; Son and Kosi rivers in Bihar; Brahmaputra river from Sadia (foothills of Arunachal Pradesh) upto the Dhubri (Bangladesh Border) and Kulsi River a tributary of Brahmaputra.