Bhubaneswar, Oct. 4: The Chilika Development Authority, a specialised body for ecological preservation of the lake, is trying to develop a protocol for dolphin watching here.

Its chief executive officer, Susanta Nanda, said they called for a meeting of stakeholders, chiefly the owners of tourist boats operating in the lake, on October 11 to discuss the details of the protocol, which is necessary to ensure the dolphins' safety.

Developing a foolproof protocol has become imperative because of the tendency of tourist boats to chase dolphins as tourists invariably want to get as close as possible to the specie. Nanda said chasing dolphins, a wildlife specie with a population of just 154 in the lake, is a crime punishable under the Wildlife Protection Act. The protocol, said sources, would focus on aspects such as safe distance while watching dolphins as eco-sensitive species can be easily disturbed by noise of mechanised boats.

Mechanised boats and gillnets (fishing nets that close around the gills when fish try to withdraw from the narrow openings) pose the biggest threats to dolphins found mainly along the lake's outer channel, where there is an abundance of fishes for them to feed on. Sources said the gillnets choked the dolphins, which need to surface every five to seven minutes to breathe.

Hundreds of mechanised boats carry tourists across the lake every day. Most of these expeditions are to sight dolphins. The development body has been trying to sensitise boatmen, who endanger the dolphins by getting too close. It is also attempting to restrict viewing distance to 50m in the lake areas where the dolphins are commonly sighted.

In January 2013, 152 dolphins, including 118 adults, had been counted in the lake. While 74 were found in the outer channel, 35 each were sighted in its central and southern sectors. In the northern sector, enumerators only spotted members of the species.