Fishermen with a dolphin in the river Ganga in Patna. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Sept. 12: The state forest department has come up with a plan to patrol certain stretches of Ganga river to check killings of Gangetic dolphins, a national aquatic animal.

A total of Rs 13 lakh has been earmarked from the state plan for 2010-11 for carrying out the plan. It entails an awareness drive to educate fishermen about the need to protect dolphins.

According to an estimate, the total population of Gangetic dolphin in India is around 2,000. Of these, over 1,200 are found in Bihar.

According to R.K. Sinha, chairman of working group for preservation and conservation action plan for gangetic dolphins, around 40 dolphins are killed by poachers every year. Not a single poacher, however, has been punished so far, he added.

“Given that a dolphin gives birth to 10 to 15 calves in its lifespan of about 40 years, the rapid rate of poaching may lead to the extinction of the aquatic mammals,” he said.

According to the plan, the stretches of Ganga between Danapur and Barh in Patna and under Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary between Sultanganj and Kahalgaon would be patrolled regularly on boats.

Forest department personnel would undertake the patrolling.

Help of local people, preferably those from fishermen community, would also be taken to patrol the river stretches. The fishermen involved in patrolling would be remunerated.

“We are going to hire boats for the patrolling purpose. On the Patna stretch of the river, patrolling would be carried out on both the northern and southern banks of the river,” a senior official of forest department said.

He added that the patrolling work would start by October this year.

A similar plan has been worked out for the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary, which too has witnessed incidents of dolphin poaching.

To ensure that fishermen do not escape the patrolling tab, it has been decided that trips to the river would be made regularly and anyone involved in harming the dolphins would be booked immediately.

Dolphins are Schedule-I animals (endangered species) and their hunt can attract a jail term of up to seven years.

Patrolling apart, a part of the funds would also be used to generate awareness about the importance of dolphins in the river ecosystem and the adverse impact of their extinction.

Signboards would be put up in villages along the riverbanks where the majority of fishermen live.

Pamphlets would be distributed among villagers, said the official.

Awareness, interactive sessions and seminars would also be organised in these villages.

Sinha said: “In a state like Bihar such a step was long awaited. Use of dolphin fat oil as a bait for fishing has its origin in the state and fishermen of Assam and Bengal have started practising the same technique.”

The chairman of working group for preservation and conservation action plan for gangetic dolphins, R.K. Sinha said that the patrolling work should not be confined to river Ganga only.

Other rivers where dolphins are found should be covered under similar projects to curb poaching of dolphins and thus ensure their survival.