31 Aug 2007 - Beijing,
China – The reported sighting of a Yangtze
River dolphin, or baiji, means there is
still a chance to protect cetaceans in the
Yangtze from extinction.
The Chinese media reported that a local
businessman in Tongling City in east China’s
Anhui Province filmed “a big white animal”
with his digital camera on 19 August. The
footage was later confirmed to be a baiji
by Professor Wang Ding, a leading scientist
in baiji study at the Institute of Hydrobiology
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
It is the first baiji reportedly found
in the Yangtze since a scientific expedition
last year, during which no single baiji
was spotted.
Based on the river’s geographic and hydrological
complexity and the official definition of
extinction by IUCN, WWF and many scientists
agreed that this species was “functionally
extinct”, but thought it was still too early
to declare its extinction.
“The finding of baiji proved our thoughts
and presents a last hope to save the species
with strengthened measures,” said Dr Zhu
Jiang, Senior Programme Officer at WWF-China's
Wuhan Office.
“Efforts are needed, now more than ever,
to provide a living space for this beautiful
animal, which is a flagship species for
the Yangtze River.”
WWF has been actively involved in the protection
of cetaceans and their habitat in the Yangtze
River. Last year the global conservation
organization cooperated with other stakeholders
to finish drafting a protection strategy
and action plan to improve the protection
capacity of nature reserves.
“The protection strategies and action plan
will be implemented under the WWF-HSBC programme
to conserve the baiji and the Yangtze together
with related stakeholders,” Dr Zhu added.
END NOTES:
• The critically endangered Yangtze river
dolphin, or baiji, can only live in freshwater
and has very poor eyesight. It once lived
in the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze
River, Fuchun River, and in Dongting and
Poyang Lakes, China. Today, it is the world's
most endangered cetacean.
• The 2006 Yangtze freshwater dolphin expedition
— covering 3,400 kilometres of the Yangtze
between Yichang, Hubei Province and Shanghai
— was organized by the Hydrobiology Institute
of the Chinese Academy of Science, the Yangtze
Fisheries Resources Administration Commission
and the Baiji Foundation, with support from
WWF, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), Britain’s Zoological
Society of London and the Swiss Federal
Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology.
Tan Rui, Communications Officer
WWF-China
