Kendrapara: Dolphin census in Gahirmatha and Bhitarkanika in Kendrapara district of Odisha has commenced from today. This will continue for 3 days.
As per reports, 9 teams have been engaged to carry out this census. Each team has 4 to 5 enumerators. The census is being carried out in Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary and Bhitarkanika rivers and canals.
Earlier, dolphin census had been carried out in the Astaranga forest range. The forest department has counted the dolphins living in the sea and rivers. The census started on Monday and it was carried out for three days. Four teams were formed under the leadership of Astaranga forest Ranger Monalisa Mohapatra and this dolphin count work started.
Out of these teams, one team was involved in the counting work in the Kadua River, a tributary of the Devi River, one team in the sea from Devi mouth to Chandrabhaga, one team from Jainiya to Ganga Devi, and two teams on the sea from Jainiya to Balasore.
The counting team near the Astaranga mouth had found two rare species of Irrawaddy dolphins. Similarly, a pod of bottlenose dolphins was seen playing water sports in the sea. The complete data on how many dolphins are in the Astaranga marine area will be known after the counting is completed.
