There are only three Indus river dolphins left in India now, according to the country’s first comprehensive survey of the aquatic animal that has sparked concern about the survivability of endangered wildlife.
The three dolphins are found in the Beas river in the northern state of Punjab.
Once widespread in the Beas and Sutlej rivers, the number of Indus river dolphins has plummeted due to habitat loss, pollution, and water diversion for irrigation, the survey says.
The Indus river dolphin, like its relative the Gangetic river dolphin, is a freshwater species found in South Asia.
India’s first dolphin population survey, conducted between 2021 and 2023 and released recently by prime minister Narendra Modi, covered 8,406km of the Ganga, the Brahmaputra and their tributaries as well as a 101km-stretch of the Beas.
“The only surviving population of Indus river dolphins in India is found in the Beas river in Punjab while the majority reside in the main course of the Indus river in Pakistan,” the survey, conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India in collaboration with state forest departments, concludes.
The Indus river dolphin was thought to be extinct in India but a remnant population was found by Punjab’s forest department and the conservation group WWF India in 2007. Interviews with people living around the Beas revealed that the dolphin, locally called Bhulan, had been present in the river for many decades.
The latest survey estimates 6,324 Gangetic dolphins in India. Most of these animals, 2,397, are found in Uttar Pradesh followed by 2,220 in Bihar, 815 in West Bengal, 635 in Assam, 162 in Jharkhand, and 95 each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Both Gangetic and Indus dolphins are classified as endangered species and receive the highest protection under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. But their survival is threatened by habitat loss, water pollution, fishing net entanglement, and fluctuating river flows, the survey notes.
Conservationists say urgent action is needed to save these dolphins and call for reducing human-induced mortality, maintaining water flow, and possibly reintroducing dolphins from healthier populations.
“Today, the greatest threats to the Indus river dolphin in the Beas river are water availability and pollution,” conservationist Sandeep Behera was quoted as saying by Mongabay India last year.
“Upstream hydropower projects cause frequent water fluctuations, creating an unstable habitat for these dolphins. The confluence of the Sutlej with the Beas river at Harike marks the area where I first sighted Indus dolphins.”
The Harike barrage in Punjab, constructed in 1953, regulates water from the Beas and the Sutlej for irrigation and drinking supply.
“This suggests their preference for this location due to stable water depth provided by the barrage,” Mr Behera noted. “However, high levels of pollution are now causing them to avoid this stretch.”
The federal environment, forest and climate change ministry released a field guide in 2022 – Monitoring Ganges and Indus River Dolphins, Associated Aquatic Fauna, and Habitat – which noted a continuous decline in dolphin populations across the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers and their tributaries.
In the past century, the report noted, the populations of Gangetic and Indus river dolphins have dropped by 50-60 per cent. There were only six to eight Indus river dolphins in India, restricted to a small stretch of the Beas in Punjab, as against an estimated 1,816 in Pakistan.
Mr Modi had launched “Project Dolphin” in 2020 in an attempt to regularly monitor dolphin populations as conservationists emphasised that it was vital for their survival.
Since a female river dolphin has only a single calf every 2-3 years, constant monitoring is necessary to protect them from both natural and human threats.
The Independent has reached out to Wildlife Institute of India for comment.
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