write a short note on crocodile project.
Answers
Answer:
The Crocodile Project started with an objective of building the population to a stage where incidence of sighting could be 5 to 6 crocodiles per KM length in water. The Project sought to make up the natural losses by death and predation through rear and release operation.
Answer:
THE BEGINNING
Crocodilians were threatened in India due to indiscriminate killing for commercial purpose and severe habitat loss until enactment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act.1972. All three species of crocodiles (Gharial, Gavialis gangeticus; Mugger crocodile, Crocodylus palustris and Saltwater crocodile, Crocodylus porosus in the river systems of Odisha were on the verge of extinction by the seventies. Crocodiles were very few because of ever increasing human activity in the rivers and their other traditional habitats, and consequent reduction in the extent of habitable stretches. Also, the survival rate of the crocodile hatchlings in nature is low because of predation. Piecemeal efforts were being made from the sixties onwards to save the crocodile. FAO Expert, Dr. H.R.Bustard engaged by UNDP/FAO and Government of India studied the prospects of crocodile rehabilitation, and based on his report and guidance a Crocodile Conservation Project was launched in 1975 in different States. The Gharial and Saltwater crocodile conservation programme was first implemented in Odisha in early 1975 and subsequently the Mugger conservation programme was initiated, since Odisha is having distinction for existence of all the three species of Indian crocodilians. The funds and technical support for the project came from UNDP/ FAO through the Government of India
MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES.
The broad strategy adopted for rehabilitation of crocodiles was to protect them in their natural habitats, to rebuild the population quickly through captive breeding (rear and release), and to build up trained personnel for the job. The broad objectives of activities under crocodile project were the following.
(a) To protect the remaining population of crocodilians in their natural habitat by creating sanctuaries.
(b) To rebuild natural population quickly through 'grow and release' or 'rear and release' technique involving the following phases of operation.
· Collection of eggs from natural nests as soon as these were laid,
· Incubation of these eggs under ideal temperature and humidity maintained in artificial hatcheries,
· Hatching and rearing the young crocodilians in ideal captive-husbandry conditions,
· Marking and releasing young crocodiles in protected areas, and
· Assessing the result of release along with protection of the released crocodiles.
(c) To promote captive breeding.
(d) To take-up research to improve management. Some of the major research activities have been in the following directions.
· Interpretation of the various types of data collected during survey and census.
· Determination of parameters for maximum success in egg collection, egg incubation, hatching, rearing and release, including husbandry aspects on feeding, food conversion and growth.
· Study of habitat features and population structure.
· Study of behavioural biology including reproduction, thermo-regulation, feeding, water-orientation, locomotion etc.
(e) To build up a level of trained personnel for better continuity of the project through trainings imparted at the project-sites and through the erstwhile Central Crocodile Breeding and Management Training Institute, Hyderabad.
(f) To involve the local people intimately through the following:
· The development of a strong level of acceptance of the project by the people, by locating the projects in rural areas where people could both see and participate in the entire programme.
· Protect the immediate and long-term interests of fishermen who reside within the sanctuaries, and whose livelihood depends on fishing, by, if necessary, providing an alternative source of income that was not detrimental to the conservation aims.
· Extend the conservation programme to village-level, commercial crocodile farming, so that people could earn an income from conserving crocodiles and their habitats.