Almost 10 years after Gangetic dolphin was declared the national aquatic animal, India will roll out its ambitious project to conserve the rare freshwater species within next fortnight.

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar  announced the Government’s plan on Monday as he tweeted, “ As announced by PM @narendramodi ji on #74thIndependenceDay, @moefcc will be launching a holistic Project #Dolphin in another 15 days for the conservation and protection of the #Dolphins in the rivers and in oceans of the country.”

The prime minister had on the 74th Independence Day announced ‘Project Dolphin', saying it will give a boost to biodiversity and create employment opportunities.

“We will focus on both types of dolphins living in the rivers and in the seas. This will also give a boost to biodiversity and create employment opportunities. This is also a centre of attraction for tourism. So, we are going to move forward in this direction too,” Modi had said.

Gangetic river dolphins were declared national aquatic species in 2010. The Ganges river dolphin is a species of freshwater dolphins primarily found in the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers and their tributaries in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.

In India, these dolphins are sighted in long deep river reaches in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

As per official figures, there are about 3,700 Gangetic river dolphins in the Indian river systems.

As river dolphins act as indicators of healthy river ecosystems, their conservation would also ensure controlling river pollution and improving availability of fish and enhancing economies of local communities through sustainable fishery, the ministry said.

“It envisages addressing conservation concerns and empowering the stakeholders like the river-dependent population in reducing river pollution and allowing sustainable fishery and river-based other livelihood options through scientifically oriented conservation methods,” it said.

In 2009, the Gangetic dolphins were declared India’s National Aquatic animal during the first meeting of the erstwhile National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) and it is placed under the “endangered” category by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) .It faces grave threats due to excessive pollution in Ganga and poaching. There are less than 2,000 dolphins left in the country