Environment

The Ganges River Dolphin is found mainly in the Ganges and Brahmaputra River systems in India and Bangladesh. There existance is concentrated on the 1,044km stretch of dolphin-inhabited Brahmaputra River system & Ganges River System.
The Ganges Dolphin is found in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. They prefer deep waters and generally share their habitat with crocodiles, fresh water turtles and wetland birds. In Ganges region, these aquatic mammals are known by the name of ‘Susuk’ whereas in the Brahmaputra region they are called ‘Hihu’.There are roughly about 2,000 river dolphins left in India today (of which 240-300 are found in the Brahmaputra river). In the 1980s, there were about 3,500 dolphins.


In the nineteenth century, the dolphins were plentiful,in the entire distributional range  however, the range and abundance of this species has sharply declined in the last 100 years and the IUCN correspondingly revised its threatened status . It is estimated that currently there are less than 2000 individuals of this subspecies globally.

According to the older human generation in India, three decades ago, the Gangetic dolphin was one of the most commonly sighted aquatic mega-fauna in the  River's system. However, due to increasing anthropogenic pressures, the overall population of the species has been declining and they have been extirpated from most of the major tributaries of the Brahmaputra and Ganges and are now restricted to pockets in the Brahmaputra mainstream. This current project was initiated with the aim of identifying hotspots for long term conservation of the last remaining dolphins in river's system.

Threat To Dolphin:
>  Mining (in Kulsi river of Assam) and Other development such as the construction of more than 50 dams
     (Farakka barrage) in Ganges and other irrigation-related projects.            
>  A destructive fishing gears for the dolphin habitats such as gill nets and hook fishing.
> Oil extraction (Dolphin oil is used to prepare medicine for rheumatic pain and also to prepare of bait for
    the catfishes).
> Water pollution (caused by sewage, industrial effluents, chemicals and immersion of religious idols).

Conservation of Ganga Dolphin:
Various conservational initiative and public awareness is being made through NGO's,media, local villagers, fishermen communities and defence organisations.The status of the Ganges River dolphin in the  River basin, threats and conservation measures were discussed. The Wildlife Protection Act of India mandates dolphin conservation as a priority, little has been done at the government level to implement or enforce the law.Even WWF had listed these Gangantic Dolphin as endangered fauna.WWF aims to reduce or eliminate the threats caused by fisheries bycatch and habitat degradation by 2012.