Adverse climate conditions in Odisha have affected the ongoing census of the dolphins in the Chilika, Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Chilika Wildlife Division, Amlan Nayak told The Telegraph: “As there is dense fog, the process of counting dolphins has been hit. Besides the fog, the sudden spell of rain has also made it tough for the 100 experts engaged in the counting of the dolphins, to do their job.”

Nayak said: “With the help of the GPS, we have divided the entire Chilika into 18 routes. Only on those designated routes, our teams are moving on boats to spot the dolphins. We are following a standard operating procedure (line transect method — a distance sampling technique that involves counting along a designated route with the help of GPS) to ascertain the number of dolphins. All teams are equipped with modern gadgets. We are doing videography, photography of the entire census process.”

The DFO continued: “As the weather is foggy, we are finding it tough to spot the dolphins. In some pockets where the dolphins were spotted earlier, we are not finding them in these same locations. They might have shifted to other locations of the lake.

“The dolphin census that began on Saturday would continue for another two to three days. Until and unless we are sure about the number of dolphins, we will not stop counting.”

The IMD (India Meteorological Department) report on the weather forecast has raised concern among experts who are busy with the census. As per the IMD, dense fog with light rain and thundershowers are very likely to occur at one or two places over several districts of Odisha during the next 24 hours. Light rain and thundershowers are very likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Khurda, Puri and Ganjam. The lake is spread over 1,100 sqkm covering these three districts.

To ensure that there is a proper census of dolphins, the 100 experts including members from the Zoological Survey of India, OUAT (Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology) students, wildlife experts equipped with binoculars and other instruments are now moving across the lake. Each team comprises eight to 10 people.

“There are two kinds of dolphins — Irrawaddy and Bottlenose dolphins — spotted in the lake. While Irrawaddy lives in the Chilika lake, Bottlenose dolphins migrate to the lake from the sea,” officials maintained.

In 2023, 173 dolphins including 154 Irrawaddy and 19 Bottlenose dolphins were spotted in Chilika. Besides dolphins, the lake is known as a paradise for birds.