2022 is the second year of the full implementation of the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River. Recently, according to the results of the 2022 scientific investigation of the Yangtze finless porpoise in the whole basin organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the population of the Yangtze finless porpoise is 1249, of which about 595 are in the main stream of the Yangtze River, about 492 in Poyang Lake and about 162 in Dongting Lake.
The 2022 Yangtze River Porpoise Scientific Expedition is the fourth scientific expedition of the finless porpoise in the Yangtze River Basin after 2006, 2012 and 2017. Compared with 1,012 in 2017, the number of Yangtze finless porpoises increased by 23.42% in 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 4.3%. In addition, the investigation found that the number of finless porpoises in some sections of Yichang Gezhouba, Huangshi Daijiazhou, Jiangxi Hukou and Jiangsu showed a significant increase, and some former distribution gaps such as the Wuhan River section also found Yangtze finless porpoises.
This shows that the ecology of the Yangtze River is recovering, and the news is exciting. This change is all related to government laws and regulations, management departments, and the efforts of countless volunteers and social organizations.
In 2015, the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (referred to as China Green Development Association and Green Society) encouraged fishermen to carry out the Yangtze River porpoise defense and provided financial support. On Tencent's donation, it has successively launched public welfare fundraising projects such as "Yangtze River Fishermen's Finless Porpoise Revenge", "Forming a Guard Team for Porpoise", and "Defending the Home of Seawater Finless Porpoise".
Since 2016, the China Green Development Association has actively participated in the protection of the Yangtze finless porpoise, and has successively established 11 finless porpoise reserves in the Yangtze River Basin, spanning 4 provinces and covering 11 areas including Poyang Lake, Wuhu, Tongling, Balijiang, East Dongting Lake and Yingkou. Among them, since its establishment, the Anti-Electric Fish Collaboration Center of the China Green Development Association has mobilized and organized more than 14,000 volunteers in 10 provinces in the Yangtze River Basin to devote themselves to the protection of aquatic resources and water environment of the Yangtze River, and has cooperated with fishery administration departments along the Yangtze River to carry out joint actions and law enforcement for many years, cracking down on illegal electric fishing, pollution discharge, and publicizing the protection of aquatic resources, which has played an important role in the protection of aquatic habitats of finless porpoises, tributaries of the Yangtze River.
In addition, volunteers from the finless porpoise sanctuaries of the Green Society also actively carry out patrol and education activities in the main tributaries of the Yangtze River and important lake areas, so as to promote the full participation of the public in the protection of the Yangtze finless porpoise.
In 2019, the China Green Development Council, together with relevant departments and bureaus of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, relevant fishery associations, environmental protection organizations, caring enterprises and anti-electric fish volunteers from all over the country, jointly organized the "2019 Anti-Electric Fish Conference" in Beijing to jointly explore further protection actions for aquatic biological resources in the Yangtze River Basin, including finless porpoises. During the Poyang Lake construction incident, the Green Society Research Office sent letters and held seminars many times, hoping to retain more and safer migration channels and living space for the Yangtze finless porpoise.
In May 2021, the Research Office of the China Green Development Association sent a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, proposing that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs would organize and implement the largest ex situ conservation action of the Yangtze River porpoise in history, and sincerely requested that this ex situ conservation program be stopped. He received a reply on June 1 and was invited to attend the 2021 Yangtze River Porpoise Protection Seminar of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
The Yangtze River is the mother river of the Chinese nation, and its ecological protection and restoration is one of the long-term national strategies, which requires the collective efforts of all fields of society. In the process of ecological protection and restoration of the Yangtze River with finless porpoise as the flagship species, it is believed that the Green Society and volunteers from all over the world will continue to be on the road for a long time to come.
Finishing/gone, Luer Review/Oak Editor/Lao Xia
#Yangtze River ## Finless Porpoise ## Yangtze River Porpoise ##野生动物 #