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A significant decline noticed in the population of gharials' sharing their habitat with an increasing population of aggressive and carnivorous muggers has become a cause of serious concern in the National Chambal Sanctuary.

What makes the whole issue more critical is that the  population of adult  male gharials in the country has comedown to just 200 (ten per cent) of the total gharials estimated to be around 2,000.

The mugger is coming to dominate the habitat in the upper reaches of the 400 km stretch of river Chambal from Pali in Rajasthan to Pachnanda in UP.

In an exclusive interview to Hindustan Times Dr Sandeep Behera, Co ordinator, Freshwater and Wetlands Programme WWF-India, said "Muggers are aggressive,carnivorous and sometimes even eat their own calves. They would also feed on gharial hatchlings and calves. We assume that the mugger population is increasing because muggers   being found in ponds, marshy areas near  human habitat are being released in Chambal river."

He said as there are three states UP,MP,Rajasthan managing the sanctuary  there is need for proper co ordination among Forest Department of all states.

WWF is now helping the three governments to come on a single platform and develop a common strategy called River Watch for conservation of both gharial and mugger as also other aquatic species in same habitat,he added.

Dr Behera said that if muggers were the main threat in the upper reaches of the river, in the downstream it was  high level of fishing which  led to any gharial moving out of the protected area  getting caught in the fishing nets.Even one year old  baby gharials were  being released into Chambal  from the only two captive  breeding centers in the country at Kukrail ,UP and Morena,MP as  the centres lacked funds to keep them till they were 2-3 year old,he said.

The baby gharials were unable to withstand the force of river during monsoon and invariably were carried out of the protected areas and many got entangled in fishing nets and died.

Till December - January 2007 illegal sand mining on the banks of the river Chambal destroyed the steep banks used by gharials for nesting and laying their eggs. A court order had brought it slightly under control but mining  still continued clandestinely, he added.    

Another major  problem was the low water availability due to it being extracted upstream and the gharials not getting deep pools for mating , he said.

Dr Behera who has just returned from National Chambal Sanctuary said a survey in the area had been conducted jointly by WWF,Madras Crocodile Bank Trust,Jiwaji University Gwalior and local NGOs between .Feb.1 -Feb 28 with help of experts of different acquatic species.