Why in news?

 Dolphins have started coming back to the Ganga with improvement in the quality of the river water made possible by the Namami Gange programme.

Highlights

• The Uttar Pradesh government said that with the completion of projects under the programmestarted in 2014, the State had stopped the flow of  sewage into the Ganga
• Dolphins have been breeding in Brijghat, Narora, Kanpur, Mirzapur and Varanasi, which is likely to increase their number.

Ganges river dolphin

• It is also known by the name susu or “Sisu” and shushuk (Bengali).
• The Ganges river dolphin has been recognized by the government of India as its National Aquatic Animal and is the official animal of the Indian city of Guwahati.
• Distribution : It lives along the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Bangladesh and India, and the Sapta Koshi and Karnali Rivers in Nepal.
• IUCN status : Endangered, The species is protected from international trade by its listing in Appendix I of the CITES.
• Conservation: A stretch of the Ganges River between Sultanganj and Kahlgaon in Bihar has been declared a dolphin sanctuary and named Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary, the first such protected area.
• Project Dolphin : On the occasion of the 74th Independence Day, the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced ‘Project Dolphin’ to boost conservation of both river and oceanic dolphins.