Status profile - 3
Crocodile Conservation in West Bengal
Subrato Pal Chowdhary and BC Choudhury

 

There are historical records of the occurrence of all the three species of Indian crocodilians in West Bengal (Smith 1935), But it is only the saltwater Crocodylus porosus, which is known to occur in the wild now. There are unconfirmed reports of the occurrence of gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) in the wild in Malda district and that of mugger, Crocodylus palustris in the Damodar river of West Bengal but these require confirmation. The occasional reports of sighting of gharial by fishermen in recent years in the river Ganga in the state may be attributed to the large-scale release of captive reared gharial in Uttar Pradesh and their subsequent migration downstream.

 

With numerous freshwater wetlands, major and medium sized rivers (Ganga, Teesta) and the world's largest contiguous mangrove of Sundarban, West Bengal still harbours good habitats for the three species of Indian crocodilians. The extensive mangrove region particularly, with its numerous river and creek systems, provides a good habitat for saltwater crocodile.

 

The West Bengal Forest Department initiated the GOI-UNDP's Crocodile Conservation Project in the state, in the late 1970s. The objectives of this project were to :

• Assess the status of the wild saltwater crocodile population in the Sunderban Mangrove System;

• Collect wild laid eggs for captive hatching;

• Rear the eggs under a "grow and release" programme; and

• Release captive reared crocodilians at suitable locations in Sunderbans.

 

Accordingly, a Crocodile Rearing Centre was established at Bhagbatpur in 24 Pargana district. The officials of the state forest department's wildlife wing were specifically trained at the Central Crocodile Breeding and Management Training Institute at Hyderabad in 1980-81, and under their care the Centre then developed. Bustard (1980) and Bustard & Choudhary (1981) have reported on the progress of the project. At present (1999), there are 112 crocodiles of different ages at Bhagabatpur.

Table 1 gives the year-wise account of saltwater crocodile captive rear programme at the Bhagabatpur Centre.

 

Figure 2 - Crocodiles in West Bengal ( Zoom the Map )

 

 

 Release of Captive Reared Saltwater Crocodile

As early as 1997, the project started releasing 1.2 -1.5m sized saltwater crocodiles into the wild. Till 1998, over 332 saltwater crocodiles have been released into the Sunderban mangroves. Details of year-wise release and their location of release is given in Table 2 below.

 

 Monitoring of Released Crocodiles and Rescue of Strayed Crocodiles

In the Sunderban mangroves and the tiger reserve, monitoring of crocodiles is a difficult task because the mudflats where crocodiles bask often get inundated. Also, because of the large-scale human population density in the state and
the socio-economic dependency of people on wetland habitats, there is a problem of reintroduction of crocodilians in natural unprotected wetland sites. Every year, the staff of the state forest department's wildlife wing captures yearlings and juveniles from different localities of Sunderban (See Table 3 )

 

While some of the juveniles being caught in the different localities are those released by the as part of the project, the smaller hatchling and yearlings are all considered to be resultant offsprings of those now breeding in the wild. Captive releases have been continuing since 1979 with three-year old crocodiles and it is  

Table : 1.Details of egg-collection & hatching of saltwater crocodiles at Bhagabatpur Crocodile centre, West Bengal.

Table : 2.Year-wise account of release of Crocodiles in different rivers of Sunderban reared in Bhagabatpur Crocodile Project.

Table : 3.Saltwater Crocodiles rescued from nature (year-wise) Yearlings:

 

expected that many of them may have recruited into the breeding cohort. However, without a full scale scientific monitoring and enquiry, it will be difficult to come such conclusions.

 

The future of saltwater crocodile programme will depend on their protection and management within protected areas, a proper long-term strategy of monitoring the survivors and the well being of the released stock.

 

 Reintroduction of Gharial

It may be mentioned that encouraged by the historical accounts of presence of gharial in Thorsa and Teesta rivers, the West Bengal forest department has contemplated reintroduction of gharial into the wild. An experimental release of gharial into semi-wild situation has been conducted in Gorumara wildlife sanctuary.

 

 References

Bustard HR (1980) - Indian most endangered crocodile wild he saltwater crocodile survive ? Makara. 2(1) p 2-3.

 

Bustard HR and BC Choudhary BC (1981) -- Conservation future of the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) in India J.B.N.H. 77 (2) p 201-214.

 

Smith. MA (1935) - The fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilian and amphibian Vol. 2 Sauria. London : Taylor Francis.