Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The three-day annual dolphin census began on Tuesday at Odisha’s Chilika Lake, Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon. To ensure accuracy in the extensive exercise, more than 100 personnel—including experts, retired forest officials, wildlife activists, and forest staff—have been deployed. The census is being conducted by the Chilika Wildlife Division with support from the Chilika Development Authority (CDA).
A total of 18 teams, each comprising five to six members, have been constituted to cover the lake’s 1,165-square-kilometre area. Of these, eight teams have been stationed in Satapada, while the remaining 10 are operating in the Balugaon range, said Divisional Forest Officer Amlan Nayak. Favourable weather conditions allowed most teams to begin their survey at 6 am on the first day, with the exercise continuing until noon.
Enumerators have been equipped with advanced tools such as drone cameras, GPS devices, range finders, binoculars, cameras, and depth-measuring instruments to document dolphin sightings using the line-transect method, officials said. Prior to the census, teams underwent training sessions on Monday at Chandrapur near Barkul and at Satapada.
The DFO added that tourist boat services on the lake will remain suspended during morning hours until Thursday to minimise disturbance during the census. Spread across the Ganjam, Khurda, and Puri districts, Chilika—renowned as the country’s largest waterfowl habitat—is home to two species of dolphins.
