Ganges river dolphin in India faces extinction
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E-mail China Dialogue, October 12, 2012
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The Ganges River dolphin, or susu, inhabits the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. [Photo/WWF] |
The Ganga dolphin was declared India's national aquatic animal in 2009, and the government approved a National Dolphin Action Plan in 2010 to save the highly endangered freshwater mammal. What has happened since then? "Not very much," admitted Ravi Singh, chief executive officer of WWF-India, the NGO that wrote the plan and has been trying for decades to save the animal that is revered by millions of Hindus.
After the extinction of the Yangtze dolphin, the Ganga dolphin is one of only three freshwater dolphins left in the world (China also classes the finless porpoise in this category). There are about 1,800 left in the Indian part of the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin, down from about 4,500 as recently as 1982. There may be around 600 more left in Bangladesh, and a few in Nepal, all part of the same basin. In Bhutan, the fourth country in the basin, the Ganga dolphin has not been seen for many years.
The Ganga dolphin is given the highest level of protection possible under the 1972 Indian Wildlife Protection Act. It is categorised as "endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
In Hindu iconography, the Ganga dolphin is the vehicle of Goddess Ganga. Traditionally, it has been seen as an indicator of the health of the river, and there is no record of it being hunted. To the contrary, there are many anecdotes of fishermen returning the dolphin to the water when it became entangled in their nets by accident.
There are similar tales of the Yangtze dolphin being the reincarnation of a wronged maiden, but the species still went extinct in Asia's longest river. The same fate seems to await the Ganga and Indus dolphins unless urgent steps are taken.
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