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Dolphin research goes hi-tech

An Irrawaddy dolphin at Chilika lake.

BERHAMPUR: Hydrophones on mobile platforms will be used for the first time in the Chilika lake to study the behaviour of Irrawaddy dolphins.

The scientific community is still data deficient regarding habits and habitat of Irrawaddy dolphins. The Chilika lake is estimated to be having 135 dolphins of this endangered species. The Chilika Development Authority (CDA) has joined hands with University of Tokyo and IIT, New Delhi, for long-term multidisciplinary research on these aquatic mammals through modern equipments. Last year a hydrophone was used in the lake to record the behavioural pattern of the dolphins. But it was used on fixed platforms, which restricted its scope of use.

Learning from the past experiences, the team of scientists involved in the project made innovations this year. Speaking to The Hindu, R. Bahl of IIT, Delhi and T. Ura of University of Tokyo, have said that with the help of CDA they have designed a special float with a large hole in the middle with anchorage facility to lower the instruments into water anywhere in the lake. The float will have the hydrophone, its computer, a wireless communication system to transfer data to base station. Prof. Bahl has said now the data collected by the hydrophone will be mostly processed by the computer on the float itself and sent to the base station at Satapada on the coast directly. “This data will be available directly on the Internet for the researchers involved in the project who are at far off places.” The float will also have web-cams to capture under and over water movements of dolphins.

The researchers add that they have also upgraded the software used to study high frequency sounds made by undersea animals. “We are now able to eliminate the sounds made by shrimps from the recording of sounds of Irrawaddy dolphins for better and fast data analysis,” says Muntaz Khan, dolphin researcher of the CDA. Both dolphins and shrimps make high frequency sounds of 50 to 60 Khz which are not audible to human ears. But these are recorded by hydrophones, an electronic receiver for detecting or monitoring sound travelling through water by converting acoustic energy into electromagnetic waves. Mr. Bahl has said in future they will use multiple hydrophone platforms for better data collection on the dolphins.

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