Meerut (Uttar Pradesh): In an ambitious project to increase the number of river dolphins in the Ganga, the Uttar Pradesh forest department will build the country's first dolphin breeding centre in Hastinapur, Meerut.
Though there is a rescue and conservation centre for dolphins in Bhagalpur, Bihar, there is no breeding centre in the country. In 2009, the central government declared the Gangetic Dolphin, a freshwater mammal, as the national aquatic animal.
Dolphins born at the Hastinapur breeding centre will be released in the Ganga and after monsoon, when the water recedes, a survey will be conducted in September-October.
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There are a good number of Gangetic dolphins from Bijnor barrage to Hastinapur and Narora barrage. Wildlife experts have called for conservation efforts as it is a rare creature. Due to pollution and hunting, the existence of a large number of Gangetic dolphins has been threatened.
A team of World Wildlife Federation and the state forest department keeps counting the mammals found in river Ganga. According to experts, the scope for conservation of Gangetic dolphins between Hastinapur and Narora is better.
The forest department has decided to conduct a survey with the Wildlife Institute of India Dehradun after the monsoon. The team will study the water quality, depth, extent of banks and other geographical aspects of the river. At present, Gangetic dolphins are found in some parts of the Indus and Brahmaputra rivers apart from the Ganga.
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Forest department officials said that to increase ecotourism in Hastinapur, there was initially a plan to build a picture gallery of dolphins, but now a dolphin breeding centre will be built, for which surveys will be conducted at several levels in September-October. At present, the babies that come out of Hastinapur after preserving the eggs are released into the river.
There are 43 species of dolphins across the world, of which five live in rivers. Others are found in salt water. A dolphin's age can extend up to 15 years. It can live in water for up to 20 minutes but has to come to the surface repeatedly to breathe.
According District Forest Officer Rajesh Kumar, since the biodiversity is good in Hastinapur, it was decided to build the breeding centre for Gangetic dolphins here.
