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October 2008 - Xingzikou, China: The Chinese
government, which has done quite a lot for
the Yangtze river’s endangered freshwater
dolphins, last week decided it needed to
do more.
The key initiative of
the new Yangtze Dolphin Network is to connect
existing reserves established for the Baiji
dolphin, the world's most endangered member
of the whale family, and the finless porpoise.
The network was initiated
by the aquatic and wildlife protection office
of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and
is funded by donors including WWF-China.
“WWF started working
on Yangtze dolphin conservation as early
as 2002 and I am very happy to join the
Yangtze Dolphin Network today,” said Dr.
Wang Limin, WWF-China’s deputy director
of conservation operations. “It is of big
significance to dolphin protection efforts
in China and around the world.”
Human activities such
as illegal fishing, pollution and shipping
have hit the Baiji dolphin and finless porpoise
hard, causing their numbers to dramatically
decline over the last few years.
During a Yangtze Freshwater
dolphin expedition in 2006 no Baiji dolphins
were found, while the population of the
finless porpoise has dropped to an estimated
1,800, half the number found in the 11000s.
“It is necessary to
integrate each nature reserve to effectively
protect the Baiji dolphin and finless porpoise,”
said Fan Xiangguo, director of aquatic wildlife
protection at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Over the past few decades
the Chinese government has made considerable
efforts to protect the freshwater dolphin
by setting up nature reserves. The Yangtze
Dolphin Network includes six nature reserves
and two monitoring sites.
“Dolphins are the indicator
species of river health,” said Li Lifeng,
Freshwater Programme Director, WWF International.
“If they are gone, the
river will not be able to support human
development. The Yangtze Dolphin Network
is a great step towards protecting the river
for both species and people.”
The network was established
in Xingzikou, Jiangxi province, on September
24, with the launch ceremony followed by
two days of dolphin monitoring and rescue
training, as well as one day of field monitoring
practice.
Apart from the Yangtze,
river dolphins are found in South America's
Amazon, India's Ganges and Pakistan's Indus
rivers as well as a few locations in south
and south-east Asia.
