The first-ever survey on a 185-km stretch of river Beas has estimated the population of endangered Indus dolphins to be between five and 11, indicating that there has been no decline in their numbers.
The WWF-India, in partnership with the Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation in Punjab, conducted the Indus River Dolphin Survey from May 3 to 6 across the Beas Conservation Reserve stretch.
The dolphin survey started from 52 Headworks, Talwara and ended at Harike Nooze point, a WWF-India statement said.
It said 55 km of river downstream of the headworks was surveyed by road due to insufficient water in Beas while the remaining 130 km was surveyed using motor boats.
"Based on the direct counts, after correcting for dolphins that were missed by the survey, the final estimate of the population of Indus River Dolphins in the Beas River stands at 5-11 individuals.
"Although the population of the species is small, its presence in the Beas river above the Harike barrage for 70 years, indicates no decline in population of the species," it said.
It also said that the presence of a young calf is also a positive sign and indicates a population that is large enough to be viable.
The WWF-India said that direct counts were conducted using tandem boat survey method (using two boats and a team of eight observers and two data recorders).
During the survey, the first dolphin sighting occurred at Mundapind village, which included an adult female with a week-old calf and a sub-adult.
A second dolphin sighting occurred at the Karmowala village, eight km of Mundapind, which again included an adult female with a week-old calf and a sub-adult, indicating breeding populations in the river.
The survey was coordinated by Kuldip Kumar, Chief Wildlife Warden, Punjab, Suresh Babu, Director-Rivers, Wetlands and Water Policy, WWF-India, Neeraj Gupta, District Forest Officer and Gitanjali Kanwar, Senior Project Officer, WWF-India.
The survey design and execution was led by world-renowned Indus dolphin specialist Gill Braulik, Member of IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group.
"Taking this forward, the department of forests and Wildlife Preservation of Punjab and WWF-India will be preparing an Indus River Dolphin strategy with an implementation road map to secure the habitats and conserve the endangered species," the statement said.
Prior to the survey, there was an interactive session on the Indus dolphin among experts and children, the riparian community and officials from the department of forests and wildlife preservation, followed by technical training sessions for 15 officials from Ferozepur and Hoshiarpur Wildlife Division and WWF-India, it added.
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