Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath declared the Gangetic Dolphin as the state aquatic animal and emphasised the need to maintain the purity of ponds and rivers. Gangetic Dolphins are usually found in rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Chambal, Ghaghra, Rapti, and Gerua. The estimated population of these dolphins just in Uttar Pradesh stands somewhere at around 2000. UP CM said, "It's important for both tourists and local residents to refrain from using plastic, as it harms our water and nature."
CM Yogi Adityanath, while addressing a forest department event in Pilibhit, also highlighted the importance of training local residents so that they learn how to interact with wildlife, reported news agency ANI.
The Chief Minister proposed that individuals from villages connected to the Tiger Reserve should be trained to be a guide as this will generate employment opportunities and raise awareness within the community.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) teams and the Forest Department have recently started counting dolphins with the help of GPS in Garh Ganga in the Harpur district.
Sanjay Kumar Mall, DFO, while talking about the ongoing census of dolphins in the Garh Ganga said, "This is a campaign named Meri Ganga Meri Dolphin 2023 campaign. Under this, counting of dolphins is being done in river Ganga from near Muzaffarpur Barrage to the entire Narora Barrage. In this, counting is being done through joint action by both WWF and Forest Department teams. There is a method of counting in it, such that there are two teams, each of which runs at a speed of 10 kilometres per hour, and there is a gap of 10 minutes between them. The entire team from Muzaffarpur to Narora Barrage will see how many dolphins dip in this interval."
He added, "That team watches the dolphin diving and notes down its GPS location, and then another team comes and notes down its GPS location. It shows that if it comes after an interval of 10 minutes then it is the same dolphin, if it does not come then it is another dolphin then the counting is done in the same way."
He also said that as per the old data, there were 22 dolphins when counted in 2015, 30 dolphins when counted in 2016, 32 dolphins in 2017, 33 dolphins in 2018, 25 dolphins in 2019 and 41 dolphins when counted in 2020, ANI reported.
According to a report of the Times of India, the status of state aquatic animals will provide some additional protection to the dolphin species. Dolphins are considered as an indicator species as their presence indicates that the health of the river is good.