First dolphin community reserve to come up in Bengal
Kolkata, 9 Oct 2015

The State Wildlife Board has decided to have the country's first community reserve for the Dolphins to protect the endangered Gangetic river dolphins.

The number of dolphin is estimated to be less than 2,000 in the country.

State Chief Wildlife Warden Azam Zaidi told "A committee is being formed to examine in what way the community reserve would be set up in the Hooghly river between Malda and Sundarbans. We'll take all stakeholders together in this initiative. It is expected that it would be ready within a year's time.

The stretch of the river is not within a forest or a sanctuary so it is very important to involve all stakeholders for protecting dolphins. We want to spread awareness, control noise pollution and have cleaner water for conserving dolphins,".

The stretch of Hooghly in West Bengal, is roughly 500 km long and it passes through Kolkata before merging with the Bay of Bengal in the Sundarbans.

A census would also be conducted to estimate the population of dolphins by the Forest Department.

This is a positive step towards conservation of this National aquatic animal of India.