Spotting the elusive Indus river dolphin

The first-ever survey of the Indus river dolphin population in India has revealed that there are five to 11 of the endangered animals living in a small stretch of the Beas river in Punjab. This is the only population found in India.

Despite the tiny population, there is some good news. Researchers found a calf during a survey, which shows that the population is breeding. The presence of a young calf indicates a population that is large enough to be viable. The analysis has also shown that although the population of the species is small, its continuing presence in the Beas river above the Harike barrage for 70 years indicates that there is no decline in the number of the species on the studied stretch.

 

The Indus River Dolphin Survey was conducted by WWF-India, in partnership with the Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation, Punjab, on May 3-6. This is the first organised survey done across a 185 kilometre stretch of the river, in a part designated as the Beas Conservation Reserve.

“While people still talk about Gangetic river dolphins, no one talks about the Indus river dolphins, neither at the state level nor at the national level. So this survey has helped us gain perspective. It was a concerted effort to understand the status of the population in India and the findings will help us in formulating a conservation strategy to save the species,” said Suresh Babu, the director of river basins and water policy at WWF-India.

The dolphin survey started from 52 Headworks, Talwara and ended at Harike Nooze point; 55 kilometres of river downstream of 52 Headworks was surveyed by road due to insufficient water in the Beas while the remaining 130 kilometres was surveyed using motorboats. Direct counts were conducted using the tandem boat survey method: using two boats and a team of eight observers and two data recorders.