Program Overview

Photo: Matt Vaughn

Touted as the most successful conservation story in India for decades, the Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) conservation program is in the doldrums today, with only about 200 reproducing Gharials remain in the wild. Formerly found in almost every river system in the northern Indian subcontinent, today these large crocodilians are found only in a few protected areas disconnected by hundreds of kilometers. In India, the National Chambal Sanctuary holds about 90% of the surviving gharials. In Nepal, the Rapti and Narayani rivers support a few individuals. The species has been extirpated in Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. The Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is a unique species of crocodilian, characterized by its long, thin snout and the bulbous growth at the end of its snout. Though millions of years ago there were several similar species, today the Gharial is the last remaining species of this ancient line, the last surviving species of the family Gavialidae.

Once before, in the mid-1970s, the number of wild Gharials had approached 200, triggering the much-publicized Project Crocodile. A head-starting program was so successful that it was touted as the most successful conservation project ever conducted in India and one of the most successful in the world — but little was done to involve local communities in gharial conservation and to secure wild habitats. Today we are seeing the results of that incomplete conservation strategy.

Poaching is a major threat, especially in the National Chambal River Sanctuary, which had been a stronghold of the species for several decades. Fishing depletes the prey base and Gharials quickly drown when enmeshed in nets. Fishermen are not sympathetic to the plight of Gharials, which they view as rivals. Many riverbanks are seasonally taken over by farmers to grow cucumbers and others are destroyed by sand mining. Either deprives Gharials of basking and nesting sites. Water siphoned from rivers for irrigation creates extensive shallow areas that Gharials will not use. Turtle poachers use longlines with up to 1000 fishhooks that ensnare young Gharials.