Posted on 29 March 2013
| Wuhan, China -- The Yangtze finless porpoise
population has declined to a mere 1,000
individuals, making the endangered species
even more rare than the wild giant panda,
the 2012 Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Survey
Report reveals.??
The population in the
mainstream of the Yangtze River was less
than half of what a similar survey found
six years ago, with food shortages and human
disturbance such as increased shipping traffic
major threats to their survival.
The study also found
that the rare species annual rate of decline
now stands at 13.7 percent, which means
that the Yangtze finless porpoise could
be extinct as early as the year 2025.
The report comes after
a 44-day and 3,400-kilometer round-trip
research expedition on the Yangtze River
between Yichang in Hubei Province and Shanghai.
Led by China's Ministry of Agriculture and
organized by the Institute of Hydrobiology
(IHB) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
WWF and the Wuhan Baiji Dolphin Conservation
Fund, the expedition first set sail on 11
November 2012.??
The crew visually identified
380 individual Yangtze finless porpoise
in the river’s mainstream during the 2012
survey. Based on this observation, scientists
determined through analyses that the population
in the Yangtze mainstream is about 500,
down from 1,225 in 2006.?
In October 2012, research
was carried out in two adjoining lakes,
the Poyang and Dongting, where the population
was about 450 and 90, respectively, according
to the report.??In a sharp contrast, 851
individuals of Yangtze finless porpoise
were visually identified in the mainstream
of the Yangtze during the 2006 survey. That
research, however, did not cover the two
lakes.?
“The species is moving
fast toward its extinction,” said Wang Ding,
head of the research expedition and a professor
at the IHB.??Attempts to find traces of
the Baiji Dolphin, another rare cetacean
and close relative of the finless porpoise,
failed during the 2012 survey. The Baiji
dolphin was declared “functionally extinct.”
According to data captured
by acoustic equipment onboard the observation
ships, the largest numbers of finless porpoise
were found in the river sections east of
Wuhan, with 67 percent recorded between
Hukou in Jiangxi Province and Nanjing in
Jiangsu Province, the report shows.??
There is a notable sign
of scattered distribution pattern which
could be the result of “shipping traffic
that made migration harder, projects that
altered hydrological conditions in the middle
and lower reaches and habitat loss,” said
Wang with the IHB.??
The report also cautions
that small groups of Yangtze finless porpoise
living in comparative isolation may have
a negative impact on their ability to reproduce.?
There are fewer finless
porpoise in the mainstream of the Yangtze
while more discoveries were made in wharf
and port areas, scientists found.??
“They may risk their
lives for rich fish bait resources there.
But busy shipping traffic close to the port
areas poses a threat to the survival of
finless porpoise,” said Wang.??
“Lack of fishery resources
and human disturbances including shipping
traffic are among the key threats to the
Yangtze finless porpoise survival,” Lei
Gang, director of freshwater programme at
WWF-China, said.?
Researchers found dense
distributions of finless porpoise in waters
that are not open to navigation and attribute
this to less human disturbance. Less optimistic
was the discovery of illegal fishing practices
in these areas, including traps that could
affect finless porpoise.??
A set of enhanced measures
that include in-situ conservation and ex-situ
conservation approaches are essential for
efforts of saving the species from its distinction,
said Lei.??Given that, the report calls
for all-year-round fishing ban for all river
dolphin reserves, establishment of a national
reserve in Poyang Lake and ex-situ conservation
reserves along the Yangtze.
+ More
Large numbers of threatened
reef fish still traded
Posted on 12 March 2013
- The humphead wrasse, a tropical reef fish,
is still suffering from illegal and unreported
international trade despite being listed
by the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora (CITES).
Discussions held by
governments meeting in Bangkok, Thailand
outlined a number of ways to help curb this
problem and maintain protection of this
threatened fish.
“Regulating the trade
throughout Asia aims to protect humphead
wrasse from overfishing and encourages sustainable
fishing which will ensure a future for this
species.” said Dr Colman O Criodain, WWF`s
Policy Analyst, International Wildlife Trade.
The International Union
for Conservation of Nature highlighted during
the meeting that wrasse are being traded
online and suggested large numbers are being
sold this way but are not reported so many
more could be being fished illegally.
Another problem is that
young humphead wrasse are being taken from
the wild and placed in captivity until they
are big enough to sell. If this ranching
style was done sustainably it could supply
the fish to the Asian market without impacting
the wild populations but current methods
are unsustainable.
Humphead wrasse was
listed on Appendix II of the Convention
in 2004 to regulate international trade.
It is one of the most valuable fish in the
live reef fish trade, and its rarity leads
to higher demand and prices of up to UD$250-300/kg
in China.
Although centred in
Hong Kong, this trade has spread to southern
China and other consumer regions, including
Singapore. Of particular concern is that
rapid economic growth in mainland China
may further intensify the demand for humphead
wrasse throughout the country.
