Pakistan creates Indus dolphin sanctuary, linking 400 km of protected river

Overview

Updated Oct 20

Pakistan's Punjab province created its first protected area for the Indus River dolphin, a blind freshwater cetacean, in June 2026. The Punjnad sanctuary covers 198 kilometers of the Indus and links an existing reserve in Sindh to form a 400-kilometer protected corridor.

On October 15, the Sindh Barrages Improvement Project reviewed a Sindh Wildlife Department proposal for dolphin conservation, bringing barrage managers into the effort. In Dera Ghazi Khan, rangers found a dolphin dead on the Indus bank after floodwater receded and left it stranded. The Punjnad sanctuary still has no published management plan.

Why it matters

This 400-km protected corridor is the main test of whether legal protection can secure one of the world's rarest freshwater dolphins.

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Key Indicators

1,987

Estimated Indus dolphin population

2025 abundance survey, up 19.4% from 2011.

19.4%

Population increase, 2011-2017

Documented in the 2025 Endangered Species Research study.

198 km

Length of new Punjnad sanctuary

Runs from Jampur to the Guddu Barrage in Punjab.

400 km

Connected protected habitat

The new sanctuary joins an existing reserve in Sindh.

660

Dolphins estimated in Punjab

WWF estimate; about two-thirds live inside the new sanctuary.

52%

Share of documented dolphin deaths from gillnets, 2008-2023

The leading recorded cause of dolphin mortality in the basin.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Aisha

Lead author of the 2025 Endangered Species Research study on Indus dolphins

Calling for science-based management and ecological changes to barrage operations

Khan

Official quoted on community engagement

Advocating community-based sustainable fishing

Nazeer Memon

Project Coordinator, Sindh Barrages Improvement Project

Chaired the October 15, 2026 review of the dolphin conservation proposal

Organizations Involved

Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department

Provincial government agency

Manages the Punjnad sanctuary and is deploying more staff there

The Punjab agency that notified the Punjnad Indus River Dolphin Sanctuary under the Punjab Protected Areas Act 2020.

WWF-Pakistan

Non-governmental conservation organization

Will develop the sanctuary management plan; leads dolphin research and rescue

The Pakistani arm of the World Wide Fund for Nature, working on Indus dolphin conservation since the 1990s.

Government of Sindh

Provincial government

Runs the existing protected area the new sanctuary connects with

Sindh's existing protected dolphin habitat links with the new Punjab sanctuary to form a 400-km corridor.

Sindh Barrages Improvement Project

World Bank-supported provincial project

Reviewing a Sindh Wildlife Department dolphin conservation proposal

World Bank-supported Sindh project that is reviewing a dolphin conservation proposal from the Sindh Wildlife Department.

Timeline

1975 October 2026

7 events Latest: October 15th, 2026 · 4 weeks ago

Tap a bar to jump to that date

October 2026
Barrage project reviews dolphin conservation proposal
Latest Conservation

The Sindh Barrages Improvement Project's coordination unit in Karachi reviewed a Sindh Wildlife Department proposal for Indus dolphin conservation under Component D.
October 15th, 2026
Pakistan creates Indus dolphin sanctuary
Conservation

Reporting details the Punjnad sanctuary linking with Sindh's reserve to form a 400-km protected stretch.
October 2nd, 2026
September 2026
Punjab orders wildlife campaign, drone survey of dolphin habitat
Government

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif ordered wider wildlife enforcement and said an AI-based thermal drone survey had begun to identify safe habitat for the Punjnad dolphin.
September 5th, 2026
June 2026
Punjab notifies Indus dolphin wildlife sanctuary
Legal

198-km Punjnad sanctuary declared from Jampur to the Guddu Barrage.
June 12th, 2026
December 2025
Study counts 1,987 Indus dolphins
Research

Endangered Species Research documents a metapopulation rise of 19.4% from 2011 to 2017.
December 31st, 2025
January 1990
WWF-Pakistan begins dolphin work
Conservation

WWF starts research, rescue, and community outreach for Indus dolphins.
January 1st, 1990
1975
Pakistan outlaws dolphin hunting
Legal

A 1970s ban on hunting becomes an early conservation win for the species.
1975

Scenarios

Punjab publishes sanctuary management plan

Likely Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: WWF-Pakistan and Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department

WWF-Pakistan said it will work with the Punjab government to develop a management plan for the sanctuary. A completed plan would lay out patrolling, dolphin monitoring, and community-based fishing rules — turning legal designation into on-the-ground enforcement.

Next census shows dolphin population growing past 2,000

Possible Resolves by Q2 2028

Discussed by: 2025 Endangered Species Research study; WWF

The 2011-2017 surveys recorded steady growth. If the trend continues beyond the sanctuary's creation, the next nationwide survey could push the estimate above the 2025 figure of 1,987 and past 2,000 — evidence that legal protection is working.

Barrages still trap dolphins; sanctuary changes little on the ground

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Aisha, conservation researcher quoted by Mongabay

The sanctuary creates legal continuity but not ecological connectivity. Irrigation barrages still fragment the river and push dolphins into canals, where gillnet entanglement remains the leading documented cause of death. Without canal safeguards and fishing rules, the designation alone may not reduce mortality.

Barrage project adopts dolphin safeguards in Sindh

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Sindh Barrages Improvement Project and Sindh Wildlife Department

The Sindh Wildlife Department submitted a conservation proposal under the barrage project's Component D, and project officials reviewed it on October 15, 2026. If adopted, the measures would add dolphin protection to the operation and rehabilitation of Indus barrages in Sindh.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

December 2006

Yangtze River dolphin (baiji) declared functionally extinct (2006)

An international survey team swept the entire Yangtze River in 2006 and found no baiji, the river's endemic freshwater dolphin. The expedition declared the species functionally extinct — the first dolphin lost to human activity.

Then

No individual was found and the species was effectively gone despite decades of earlier sightings.

Now

The baiji became the benchmark for freshwater cetacean extinction, a warning for all remaining river dolphins.

Why this matters now

The Indus dolphin shares the baiji's vulnerability to dams, fragmentation and fishing. The new sanctuary is the direct effort to avoid that endpoint.

2017-2021

Yangtze finless porpoise conservation (2017-2021)

The critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise, the only other freshwater cetacean in China, continued to decline despite protected-area designations. A 2021 review studied its management for lessons applicable elsewhere.

Then

Conservationists documented continuing pressure from fishing, shipping and habitat loss.

Now

Its management practices were held up as both a model and a caution for river dolphin conservation, directly informing Indus dolphin strategy.

Why this matters now

The 2021 Frontiers review explicitly drew lessons from the porpoise for the Indus River dolphin, the species this sanctuary protects.

Sources

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