The endangered Irrawaddy dolphins face a threat to their very existence in the Chilika lagoon from whale sharks that have suddenly arrived from the Bay of Bengal.
The endangered Irrawaddy dolphins face a threat to their very existence in the Chilika lagoon from whale sharks (blue whales) that have suddenly arrived from the Bay of Bengal.
Chilika, spread over 1000 sq km, is a hotspot of biodiversity in India and a natural abode for Irrawaddy dolphins, numbering less than a 1,000 in the whole world, the maximum in any lagoon in the world. They are found in the rivers of Burma, Indonesia and the Philippines and at Chilka in Orissa and Songkhla in Southern Thailand.
Chilika Development Authority (CDA) officials say the whale sharks entered the lagoon through a narrow channel which connects to the Bay of Bengal. Forest officials caught a blue baby whale shark four days back. It measured two feet in length.
Fishermen in Satapada, Puri, have seen the sharks attacking dolphins. Some even cut into some fishing nets used to catch fish. The whale sharks have enough strength to cut iron into pieces.
Orissa Wild Life Society secretary Biswajit Mohanty said some dolphins were getting entangled and killed in fishing nets while being chased by the whale sharks. “All fishing nets should be taken away from the lagoon,” he said.
However, CDA chief executive officer Dr Sudarshan Panda said it was yet to be established that the dolphin population was declining ever since the whale sharks arrived. “Research is going on in Asiatic countries,” he said, adding that whale sharks generally appear in the estuary during the breeding season.
Reminded that the number of dolphins has touched 138, he said, “This has been possible due to close cooperation between local fishermen and tourist boat operators.”
Meanwhile, a team from IIT New Delhi, in collaboration with experts from University of Japan, Tokyo, are studying the behavioural pattern of the dolphins.
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