Friday, June 17 2005 11:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: India would conduct the first ever dolphin census in the estuarine biosphere of Sunderbands this year end to ascertain the exact number of these lovable creatures whose dwindling number has caused concern.

"The dwindling number of the Gangetic dolphin has been a cause of concern for conservationists for long. We will begin the census in late December this year to pinpoint how many dolphins actually populate the rivers and creeks of this estuarine delta," Director of the Sunderbands Biosphere Reserve Atanu Raha told sources.

Alongside the Gangetic dolphins, the census would also conduct a headcount for its cousin - the Irrawady variety - generally found in Myanmar.

Employing the eco-depth sounder and sighting methods, the census team would look for the two varieties, which are considered by marine biology experts as indicators of ecological sustainability.

To begin the pilot project, the West Bengal Government had sought the help from two scientists involved in dolphin census in the Bhitarkanika sanctuary and Satpada area of Chilka Lake in Orissa.

Raha said the State would also seek expertise from the Bangladesh Government, which conducts a similar census in association with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) method prevalent in some areas to track dolphins could not be used in Sunderbands because of restrictions on the Indo-Bangladesh border, Raha said.

Based on the success of the first exercise, the dolphin census would be made a regular affair, closely following the biennial tiger census, from 2006 in the creeks and rivers criss-crossing the estuarine Gangetic delta.

"We are also actively considering another proposal by an NGO to create a dolphin sanctuary in the stretch on the Ganges extending between Mayapur and Budge Budge near Kolkata," he said.

During the next tiger census in 2006, West Bengal would also hold its first crocodile census and follow it up every two years, he said.

Following a threat to estuarine crocodile population in the Indian Sunderbands in 1982, the State Government's forest department had begun a massive captive breeding in Bhagabatpur of South 24 Parganas district and had released 379 reptiles into the tiger reserve waters since then.

"Though the threat of extinction has been averted in the last 20 years and the crocodile population seems to have stabilised, no scientific study has been done to ascertain their numbers. That is why the need for a croc census was felt," Raha added.