Patna: The environment and forests department has engaged three agencies to conduct a census of Gangetic dolphins, which enjoy the status of national aquatic animal.

The exercise will be conducted in the rivers Ganga, Gandak and Ghaghara. Besides, forest department personnel will also work on it.

"We have roped in the services of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University for the census which will get underway in October-November," a senior environment and forests department official told The Telegraph.

The plan is the ZSI will conduct the census work in the Ganga river from Buxar to Mokama and the Bhagalpur university will conduct it from Mokama to Manihari Ghat. The WTI has been tasked to conduct the census work in the Gandak (Valmikinagar to Hajipur) and Ghaghara (Saran) rivers.

As the forest department personnel will take part in the census work too, a special training programme has been organised for 30 personnel at Bhagalpur on August 28 and 29.

Experts from the WTI, ZSI and Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University will share details of the methodology to be used.

"This is the first time that dolphin census will be simultaneously carried out in three major habitats. Earlier, estimation work was done in parts of the habitats at different points of time," ZSI Bihar head Gopal Sharma, who will head his team, said.

According to the current estimates, Bihar is home to 1,200-1,300 Gangetic dolphins while there are 3,500 of these dolphins in the country.

WTI senior functionary Samir Kumar Sinha, who will head his team, said besides counting dolphins, the project entails capacity building of forest department staff and preparing a distribution map of the aquatic mammals which will help the forest department carry out dolphin conservation work in a more focused manner.

The Gangetic dolphin falls under the Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act and has been declared an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

So far as the survey's outcome is concerned, the agencies have been asked to submit their draft report by January next year. "We are expecting that the final report will be ready for release sometime in March next year," said the forest department official.