Too Little, too Late?

(This article was published in "The Sunday Indian", 16 June-22 June 2008)

ASSAM: VANISHING SPECIES
Too Little, too Late?
Assam declares river dolphins as state aquatic animal

 

They make your soothing summer evening eye-catching should you stand on the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra, bobbing in and out of the river, silent sentinels of an ancient waterway. Yet, over time, they've lost their million-dollar smile hunted down on the very river banks they call home. But that is about to change. The river dolphin is now Assam's state aquatic animal. Humans have finally woken up to the fact that the 250 odd dolphins who inhabit the Brahmaputra must be saved before it is too late.

At the World Environment Day, Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, said: "This is an animal that is very dear to the people of Assam." The destruction was better described by Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain: "River dolphins (or xihus as they are called in Assamese) swimming in the Brahmaputra was a common sight till only a few years ago," he said. "Lately, sightings have become rare."

The task at hand is daunting. Once numbering in thousands, the state's xihu population fell to 400 in 1993, to 250 by 2005. Of the 250 that exist (some say 268), 197 are in the Brahmaputra, 26 are in Subansiri while another 27 are in the Kulsi river, both tributaries of the main river. The fall in river dolphin population can be attributed mainly to an unprecedented spurt in hunting, both for culinary and other purposes; oil extracted from the river dolphin, for example, is used to attract large catfish called `gourua' and `neria' in Assam's rivers.

"The animal was declared endangered in 1972, says Dr Abdul Wakid, environmentalist, but it has never registered a case involving their hunting." The solution for dolphins, according to Saumyadeep Dutta, lies in making the Kulsi river a sanctuary for the animal. "And punishment to poachers must be harsh," he says. Till such a time arrives, the Dolphin can take heart: it's now the state's aquatic animal. 

 

Pankaj Borthakur