Bhubaneswar: Census on dolphin population has begun in Chilika Lake, known as Asia's largest brackish water lagoon. 18 teams comprising of 109 members have been engaged in the enumeration.
Eight teams in the Satpada range and 10 teams in the Balugaon range have been assigned to count dolphins. The counting process began at 6 30 am. Chilika Development Authority (CDA) staff, forest workers, students of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, volunteers, environmentalists have joined the counting process.
Transact survey method has been adopted for the process. With the help of GPS, binocular, range finder, the numbers are calculated.
"Due to the heavy fog, today, dolphin counting in Chilika has been hampered," census team said. The counting is expected to continue until 12 noon.
Last year, 156 Irrawaddy dolphins were spotted in Chilika. As per reports, GPS tracking binoculars were first used last year for the census carried out by the forest department.
According to reports, CDA had reclaimed over 160 square kilometres of the area during 2020 and 2019. It was estimated that the ban on encroachment had led to dolphins acquiring new areas in Central and Southern sector near Kalijai island and Rambha areas, reports said.
Irrawaddy dolphin mainly inhabits Chilika Lake. The species are found in Asia, from Chilika to Indonesia. Irrawaddy dolphins are conserved under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, ClTES (Appendix-l) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Criteria, as per reports.
Chilika Lake is devoid of marine, brackish and freshwater ecosystems. The largest lake along the east coast of India is a hotspot of biodiversity, sheltering many endangered species listed in the IUCN red list.
