Major threats to the gharial include:

• Illegal fishing which often results in the gharial's snout becoming entangled in nets and the animal drowning. There have also been cases of fishermen cutting off snouts and beheading gharials.
• Loss of habitat due to sand mining of rivers, agriculture, pollution and demands on the water for irrigation

Timeline of Past Conservation Efforts and Gharial Populations

• 1940's An estimated 5,000-10,000 gharials roamed from the Indus River inpresent-day Pakistan 3,000 km eastward across the Gangetic plain to the Irrawady River in Myanmar.
• 1970 S.Biswas claimed the gharial had vanished from the Kosi River and recommnded that other rivers be surveyed.
• 1973 A team from Madras Snake Park carried out extensive surveys across every major river and stream throughout the gharial's range in India and Napal and recorded only 200 individuals.
• 1975 Project Crocodile was set by the Indian Government with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
• 1992 The Ministry of Environment and Forests of India called a halt to captive rearing of gharials and withdrew funds.
• 1992-1999 Dedicated gharial conservationists tried to carry out surveys when possible along with their own work, but no systematic surveys were carried out by Forest Departments.
• 1996 Project Crocodile was declared a success and money was withdrawn.
• 1999-2003 No gharial surveys were conducted.
• 2004 Crocodile researcher Dr. R.K. Sharma reported gharial numbers in wild had plummeted. The Gharial Multi-Task Force was created by concerned conservationists.
• 2006 Surveys indicated there were less than 200 mature breeding adults left in the wild. Applications were made by GMTF to the IUCN to change the gharial status from "Endangered" to "Critically Endangered" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
• 2007 The gharial was officially listed as "Critically Endangered" in 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Surveys indicated there were around 200-250 mature breeding adult gharials in the wild, spread across fragmented habitats. The Gharial Multi-Task Force changed its name to Gharial Conservation Alliance

Population

• In 1974 surveys showed there were under 200 breeding adult gharials left. This instigated a huge effort from Romulus Whitaker and colleagues to save the gharial from extinction, and by 1998 numbers of gharial were increasing.
• In 2004 R.K.Sharma and D.Basu noted the gharial was in rapid decline.
• By 2006 the species was given a 50:50 chance of survival by the Gharial Multi-Task Force, which formed in response to the crises. Population numbers were thought to be as low as 200 breeding adults again. That same year saw the Gharial become listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. Estimates of the decline of gharial numbers indicated that there had been up to a 98% population decline from 1946-2006.
• It was also noted by the Gharial Multi-Task Force that the gharial was faring far worse than the tiger in India, which has a number of reserves set-aside for it. In comparison, the gharial has only the Chambal, Katerniaghat and the Son and one reserve in Nepal. It was deemed to be the most endangered large animal on the subcontinent.
• On December the 8th 2007, reports began to come through of a mass die-off of Gharial at the Chambal, one of the strong holds of the wild population (48% of the worlds population ref- IUCN red list). Press, international vets and the gharials long term guardians, such as Rom, travelled to the Chambal in order to try and find the cause of this disaster.
• It is now thought that 30% of the population of sub adults and adults at this reserve were lost. Perhaps the most important element of this die-off was the loss of between 10-15% of the breeding females at the Chambal. Overall if is thought that up to 10% of the entire wild population was lost.
• The exact current population is unknown. However it could be down to 150 breeding adults in the wild.

What caused the die-off?

• Although the vets that arrived to help with the gharial crises had some idea of what may be causing the die-off, they would not comment until the autopsy results came through.
• Wild speculation about heavy metal poisoning, infectious disease and parasites were challenged by the fact that other species with the same diet seemed unaffected.
• Rom felt that it must be a toxin and wondered if it may be a similar problem to the one that is wiping out India's vulture population.
• Once the vets had carefully analysed the samples taken from both the affected gharial and a healthy adult, they were able to conclude that the gharial had been affected by a toxin.
• The levels of uric acid in the blood of the gharial were so high it caused kidney failure and uric acid building up in the joints causes Gout. As the temperature of the river at the Chambal dropped the Gout meant the gharial's mobility is seriously hindered and they are unable to get to the sand banks to bask and unable to control their limbs enough to swim.
• What is not known is whether the toxin is still in the river and if another mass die off will happen when the water temperature drops again.

What is being done ?

• The Gharial Conservation Alliance (GCA) is spearheading fundraising for conservation, education and gharial studies, including telemetry to understand gharial movement in and out of riverine protected areas.
• Wildlife divisions of the state forest departments of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are in charge of the National Chambal sanctuary the last remaining large breeding population of gharial.
• WWF-India, a partner with GCA is operating a field station near the National Chambal Sanctuary.
• Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), Government of India, convened a gharial crisis management group in response to the gharial dieoff in Chambal River last winter
• MOEF has allocated a million rupees for a toxicology lab in New Delhi to undertake extensive studies of the Yamuna River, with the main aim being to short list toxins that could have caused the dieoff.
• GCA, San Diego Zoo, Cleveland Zoo and the Madras Croc bank have sponsored a workshop for 7 Indian Vets to be trained in Croc capture / restraint and Croc / Gharial necropsy (post mortems), collection and preservation of specimens. Through out this winter these vets will be 'on call' 24/7 in case of a repeat of the crisis.
• GCA has hired a full time vet Dr. Yaduraj khadpekar who will be stationed at the Chambal from November onward, with the support of the Cleveland Metropark Zoo, USA

What can you do

• There are a number of ways to support gharial conservation efforts.
• Go to the Gharial Conservation Alliance website to find out more about the gharial and the efforts to save it.
• While there you can donate funds directly to the numerous GCA efforts by going to the Donors page.
• Visit your local Zoo or Aquarium to see if they are supporting gharial conservation efforts. If they are you can contribute through them to gharial conservation efforts. If they are not, suggest to them that you would like to see them getting involved in supporting gharial conservation.