the conservation action plan the ganges river dolphin - IUCN SSC ...

PREAMBLEThe Ganges River dolphin, Platanistagangetica gangetica, is one of the mostcharismatic mega-fauna of the Indiansubcontinent.It is among the four obligate freshwaterdolphins found in the world with the othersbeing the 'bhulan' or Platanista gangeticaminor in the Indus River in Pakistan, the'baiji' or Lipotes vexillifer in the YangtzeRiver in China, and the 'boto' or Iniageoffrensis in the Amazon River. The 'baiji'was reported to be functionally extinct in2006.The Ganges River dolphin is distributed inthe Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna andKarnaphuli-Sangu river systems of India,Nepal and Bangladesh. The total populationis estimated to be between 2500 and 3000individuals in its entire distribution range,out of which more than 80% is within Indianterritory.This species has been included in Schedule Iof the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972,in Appendix I of the Convention onInternational Trade in Endangered Species(CITES), in Appendix II of the Conventionon Migratory Species (CMS) and categorisedas Endangered on the International Unionfor the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN)Red List.The Ganges River dolphin is extensivelymentioned in India’s mythological andhistorical literature. However, it was WilliamRoxburgh, the then Superintendent of theCalcutta Botanical Garden, who wrote thefirst scientific paper on this species in 1801.John Anderson published a report on itsbiology, including a distribution map, in1879 after which there is no record of furtherscientific work on this animal for the nextone hundred years.Ganges River dolphin were made under theGanga Action Plans (GAP) I (1985) and II(1991) through research and conservationprojects. These provided baseline scientificinformation about the species, including thefact that habitat degradation, throughpollution and reduced water flow, andpoaching were threatening its existence.The Prime Minister declared the GangesRiver dolphin as the National AquaticAnimal in the First Meeting of the NationalGanga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) onthe 5 th of October 2009. The Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests (MoEF)subsequently notified the Ganges Riverdolphin as the National Aquatic Animal onthe 10 th of May 2010 and constituted aWorking Group to prepare a ConservationAction Plan for the Ganges River dolphin.This plan recommends a number of specificconservation actions, including some relateddirectly to management. The challenge is toimplement these plans and ensure the longtermsurvival of the dolphin in the rivers ofIndia.Note:This Action Plan for the Conservationof the Ganges River dolphin has beenprepared under the auspices of theNational Ganga River Basin Authorityand thus these recommendationsconcern dolphin populations only inthe Ganga and its tributaries.Conservation recommendations for theBrahmaputra River and its tributarieswill be covered in a subsequentpublication.The first efforts in the 20th century todocument the status and threats faced by the7