156 endangered Irrawaddy dolphins noticed at Odisha’s Chilika lake in newest survey

By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Chilika, the biggest brackish water lagoon of Asia, is house to round 156 Irrawaddy dolphins, revealed the fifth Flora and Fauna survey carried out by the Chilika Development Authority (CDA) on February 1.

CDA officers, nonetheless, clarified that the inhabitants of the species may very well be within the vary of 155 to 165 as their determine was 161 final yr.

“156 dolphins of the species were directly sighted during the monitoring,” said the survey report launched by the CDA on Wednesday.

The Irrawaddy dolphin is likely one of the flagship species inhabiting the Chilika Lake. The species in India can be protected underneath the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, CITES (Appendix-l) and IUCN Red List.

Over the years, the lake has turn into a protected haven for the dolphin species whose distribution vary at current has remained restricted to Asia, from Chilika to Indonesia.

As per the survey report, a great variety of the dolphins has been noticed in Rambha bay space together with the outer channel of the lake.

“The dolphins are colonising new areas of the lagoon which gives hope for revival of the population of this endangered mammal,” mentioned CDA Chief Executive Susanta Nanda.

Nanda mentioned the motion of the species to new areas of the lake has been facilitated by eradicating unlawful prawn gherries.

The annual survey was carried out by the CDA utilizing ‘transact method’ adopted worldwide to rely inhabitants of aquatic mammals. Around 28 groups, outfitted with binoculars, GPS, Range finder and knowledge recording sheets, carried out the survey from 6am to 12pm on February 1.

The survey additionally pegged the variety of winged company that visited the lagoon this winter at 10.5 lakh. “Around 10.5 lakh birds of 105 species were found during the survey which compares favourably with the waterbird census conducted by the Chilika Wildlife Division earlier this year in which 10.36 lakh birds of 103 species had been spotted in the lake,” the survey report said.

Apart from dolphins and waterbirds, this yr the survey for the primary time noticed a bunch of Eurasian Otter close to the fowl’s island within the southern sector of the lagoon.

It additionally discovered 5 species of seagrass — Holodule uninervis, Holodule pinifolia, Halophila ovalis, Halophila ovata, and Halophila beccarii — over 172 sq. km space of the lake, a rise of round 3 sq. km in comparison with final yr.

CDA officers mentioned Chilika has 33 per cent of India’s seagrass space which acts as a carbon sink and facilitates the local weather resilience of the Chilika eco-system.