Fourth Gangetic dolphin found dead in Halda this year

The decomposed corpse of a dead Gangetic or Ganges dolphin, an endangered species on the IUCN Red List, has been recovered from Halda River in Chittagong, in the fourth such find the only natural breeding ground for carp fishes in South Asia since January.

Weighing 13.39 kg, the 45-inch-long dolphin was recovered near Azimer Ghat area of the district’s Raozan Upazila around 11am on Wednesday.

Roshangir Alam, general secretary of Halda Egg Collectors’ Association, confirming the news, said that they recovered the dolphin after noticing its body floating on the river.

“After that, we informed the Halda River Reshearch Laboratory and the local fisheries officer. Representatives from the laboratory and fisheries department arrived in the afternoon and buried the dolphin after examining it”, he added.

Dr Manzoorul Kibria, a zoology professor at Chittagong University and the coordinator of Halda River Reshearch Laboratory, suspects the dolphin might have died two-three days ago.

“As a result, its body was decomposed.Hence, it was buried without any post-mortem,” he added.

Including the four dolphins, a staggering 43 of the mammal species died in the river since 2017, the researcher said.

Gangetic dolphins, locally known as “Hutum” or “Shushuk”, inhabit the Karnaphuli and Halda rivers in the district.

This species is protected under provision 1 of the Bangladesh Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act-2012, in adherence to the UN Convention of Biological Diversity-1992.

Section 37 of the Wildlife (Protection and Security) Act-2012 specifically mentions statutory penalties to kill or hold dolphins or dolphin-based derivatives (dolphin ivory, oils, etc) that can go up to four years of imprisonment and a fine of Tk2 lakh.

However, thus far, there has been no plan to tackle the human-dolphin negative interactions in Bangladesh.

“Dolphins are going extinct through entanglement in gillnets and deliberate killings for use as a fish attractant and hereditary medicine,” Dr Mokhlesur Rahman of the Centre for Natural Resources, an environment-centric organisation in Bangladesh, told a newspaper earlier this year.

The connection between humans and dolphins is also severed, often sparking unintentional retaliatory events.