Dolphin census begins at Chilika lake of Odisha, 18 teams deployed
The annual Dolphin census has began at the Chilika Lake of Odisha at 6 am on Saturday. A total of 18 teams are conducting the counting.
Khordha: The annual Dolphin census began at the Chilika Lake of Odisha at 6 am on Saturday. The counting will be conducted till 12 pm today. A total of 18 teams have been deployed for the annual dolphin census.
The counting will take place in four places in Chilika including Balugaon Wildlife Division and the Balugaon Range in Chilika. These two ranges are divided into three sectors.
Each team will be comprised of 8-9 members. The 18 teams include senior officials of the State Forest Department and wildlife experts, OUAT students, boat associates, CDA, and volunteers. Out of the 18 teams, six will conduct the counting in the Central sector, four in the Southern sector, one in the Northern sector, and the rest of 7 in the Outer channel.
The counting will be done through GPS, binoculars, and modern technology. Boats, ferries, and tourist ferries will be banned from entering the lake at the time of the counting. For this, the training was conducted yesterday at the CDA office in Satpada.
Last year, a total of 173 dolphins were seen in Chilika Lake. Out of them, 154 are Irrawaddy and 19 are Bottle-nose dolphins.
However, if there is foggy weather then the dolphin count will be completed between 21th, 22nd and 23rd. The PCCF Bhubaneswar will notify about the final count information after the count is over.
Ms Kalinga