Guwahati, Nov 24 - In Assam's Duijan town, dark silhouettes cruising silently in deep muddy waters off the banks of the Brahmaputra river is a memory that never dies out.But the dolphins, or 'xihu' as locals call it, are dying.In Tinsukia district, of which Duijan is a part, - around 600 km from here - the xihus are battling for survival against enormous river pollution and mounting threats from humans.Riverine communities in the floodplains are familiar with the xihus. Many have watched them at play or spotted them keeping up with speeding motorboats, diving and leaping near the front or bow.The xihus surface intermittently from the deep waters to breathe before quickly disappearing again.But over the years things have changed. Their sightings have become rare. The fishermen who once enjoyed their presence now kill them for use as fish-bait. Dolphins are poached to extract fat oil, which when released in the river, attracts fish in large numbers.Conservationists say there are just about 268 xihus fighting a losing battle for survival in Assam's vast river networks.'Until recently there were four species of river dolphins in the world, including the Gangetic dolphins of South Asia and the Baiji of China; the Baiji is now extinct,' said Sanjoy Hazarika of the NGO Centre for North-East Studies (C-NES) in Delhi.C-NES has recently made a documentary, 'Children of the river - the Xihus of Assam', which was unveiled last week at the India International Centre in the capital to press for urgent action for conservation of dolphins.The film, which is currently in English, will be translated into the Assamese language for another screening in Assam scheduled late in November, he added.The NGO has initiated an awareness campaign among the fishermen community to educate them on the importance of conservation and also popularise an alternative method of fish extracts that could be used as fish-bait to reduce the poaching pressure.Dolphins use sound to 'see'. They use sonar or echolocation - making a sound and listening to it bounce off objects - for finding food and navigating without bumping into things.
(c) Indo-Asian News Service
