The Forest personnel of the Bhitarkanika National Park, who carried out an enumeration drive of dolphins on Friday at the sea coast and within a km from the shoreline coming under Rajnagar mangrove forest division, failed to spot a single dolphin this time.
Rajnagar mangrove (forest) and wildlife division DFO Bimal Prasanna Acharya said, “The forest personnel of Bhitarkanika National Park, by forming nine teams, on Friday organized the dolphin status survey from Dhamara to Devi mouth on the coast coming under the park. But they failed to sight a single dolphin this time due to adverse weather.”
According to Acharya, last year, during the dolphin census, at least six species of cetaceans from the diverse wetland habitat, namely Irrawaddy Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Humpback Dolphin (Sousa chinensis), Humpback Dolphin (Sousa plumbea) Pan tropical Spotted Dolphin and Finless Porpoises were spotted by the enumerators. The drive was conducted on February 15, 2015.
As many as 58 Irrawaddy Dolphins, 23 Bottlenose Dolphins,123 Sousa Chinensis, 50 Sousa Plumbeas, 15 Pan Tropical Spotted Dolphins, one Finless Porpoise Dolphin were sighted by the enumerators during the last census.