Dolphins, Whales and Porpoises: 2002-2010 Conservation - IUCN

surveyed and found to have high dolphin densities. These
should include the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin
Sanctuary in Bihar, India, and the Karnaphuli-Sangu and
Kalni-Kushiyara river systems of Bangladesh.
This project should involve training courses for researchers
from India and Bangladesh, followed by field surveys in
nearby river segments. Special attention should be paid to
documenting dolphin mortality, existing and planned water
development projects, and sites where chemical pollutants
are being released into the aquatic environment. Results
from these investigations should be communicated to resource
management agencies along with recommendations
on measures to reduce or eliminate threats.
14. Investigate deliberate and accidental killing of
coastal cetaceans in India
While national programs in India encourage expansion of
marine fisheries to feed India’s human population, large
numbers of cetaceans die in gillnets (Mohan 1994). Recent
newspaper articles indicate that bottlenose dolphins
(probably T. aduncus), and possibly Indo-Pacific humpbacked
dolphins, are also being deliberately killed along the
coast of Andhra Pradesh because they are perceived as
competitors for diminishing fish resources. Deliberate and
incidental killing of cetaceans may be especially frequent
along the east coast of India near major population centers
(e.g., Calcutta and Madras), where the demand is high for
fish and fishing employment. This eastern coastline, at least
as far south as Vishakhapatnam, includes the westernmost
range of the Irrawaddy dolphin (Stacey and Leatherwood
1997), a species that seems particularly vulnerable to gillnet
entanglement because of its affinity for river mouths where
fishing pressure is most intense. This project should entail a
series of training courses and the establishment of a rigorous
monitoring program to document cetacean mortality.
Irrawaddy dolphins in Chilka Lake should be included.
15. Investigate and monitor the distribution,
abundance, and habitat quality of Indus river
dolphins (bhulans) and address ongoing
threats in Pakistan
The provincial governments of Sind and Punjab have been
conducting annual counts of dolphins in the Indus River
since 1987 (Reeves and Chaudhry 1998). Nevertheless,
there is a need for better coordination and cooperation between
the wildlife departments in the two provinces so that
conservation strategies can be pursued at the metapopulation
level. It is still uncertain whether dolphins move
through barrages when the gates are open. If they do, this
would tend to augment downstream populations and deplete
upstream ones. The claim by Khan and Niazi (1989) of a
dramatic increase in the population between the Sukkur and
Guddu barrages after the Sind Dolphin Reserve was established
in 1974 might, therefore, be explained partly by
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attrition from upstream populations, rather than entirely by
reproduction and improved survival as a result of protective
measures within the Sukkur-Guddu segment. Recent reports
of deaths from net entanglement and possibly illegal hunting,
together with records that dolphins sometimes enter
irrigation canals with no possibility of returning to the main
river channel (Reeves and Chaudhry 1998; Braulik 2000),
mean that there is a continuing need for stricter law enforcement,
improved public awareness, and an organized rescue
program to catch and return animals that have strayed from
secure habitat. A major natural gas field has been developed
along the left bank of the Indus River near the middle of the
Sind Dolphin Reserve, and there are plans to expand this
development on both sides of the main channel. Whether
any of the activities associated with the gas development
have affected, or will affect, river dolphins is difficult to
determine. However, considering the site’s proximity to one
of the highest-density concentrations of dolphins in the
entire Indus Basin, a rigorous assessment is needed of the
potential impacts.
This project should include a training course for wildlife
officials and researchers in Sindh and Punjab and additional
range-wide surveys of the Indus dolphin. Concurrent with
these efforts should be the further development and implementation
of a dolphin rescue program. This program
should include the translocation of animals trapped in irrigation
canals back into the main channel of the Indus River
(Figure 31), the collection of morphometric data and tissue
samples for genetic and pollutant analyses, and efforts to tag
and track the released dolphins with telemetry. Information
on dolphin movements is essential for evaluating the barrier
effects of barrages, survivorship of translocated animals,
and fidelity to identified habitat. An additional component
of this project should be an independent assessment of the
current and potential impacts of gas-drilling operations.
Figure 31. An Indus dolphin is returned to the main
channel of the Indus River near Sukkur in Sind Province,
Pakistan, having been captured in an irrigation canal
during January 2001. This animal was one of ten
successfully rescued in 2001 by a team from WWF-
Pakistan, with funding from the United Nations
Development Programme and the Whale and Dolphin
Conservation Society. Photo: Gill Braulik.