Keeping ‘smiling angels of the Yangtze’ happy
Print Edition
Somewhere along the lower reaches of China’s Yangtze River, a slick black back briefly arches above the silvery surface as one of the world’s most endangered animals emerges, gulping for some air.
Such a glimpse of the Yangtze finless porpoise is taken by many Chinese as a good omen since the fleshy aquatic animal is critically endangered, rarer even than the country’s poster child for species conservation, the giant panda.
Research on the species by the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs released last year showed that there was a wild population of just 1,012 still navigating the twists and turns of the longest river in Asia.
After its more-storied cousin, the Baiji dolphin, was declared “functionally extinct” in 2007 in the same waters, the finless porpoise is thus believed to be the Yangtze’s last surviving mammal, said Jiang Meng, secretary-general of the Nanjing Yangtze Finless Porpoise Conservation Association.
Permanent grin
The freshwater porpoise with no dorsal fin is native to China.
They only pulse through the waters in the central and eastern parts of the Yangtze including two lakes naturally connected to the 6,300-kilometer river, Dongting and Poyang, according to conservationists.
With its mouth fixed in a permanent grin, the rotund finless porpoise is adored in China as a “smiling angel.”
But this “angel” that has lived in the waters for 25 million years is fighting for its survival.
The riverbank of the Yangtze used to be studded with steel mills and petrochemical companies that took advantage of cheap water transport, causing water quality to deteriorate.
“Unsustainable fishing which reduced its natural prey, collisions with shipping traffic and water pollution have all impacted the porpoise’s health and rendered it to be critically endangered,” Jiang said.
The extinction of the Baiji stung the collective conscience of the Chinese people. “We cannot afford to let the ‘smiling angel’ go extinct,” he added. “Its fate foreshadows the health of the whole river ecosystem. So the crisis is also our own.”
In 2014, the government of Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, opened a provincial protection zone that covers a total area of nearly 87 square kilometers along the Yangtze for the endangered species.
Since 2016, the environmental protection of the Yangtze has become a priority.
Jiangsu Province, in the lower reaches of the Yangtze, closed more than 6,000 chemical firms near the river in the past three years. And Chongqing, upstream, aims to close all companies with dilapidated equipment by 2020.
“Official clampdowns on overfishing and polluting activities have gradually restored the water quality,” Jiang said.
The latest research released in 2018 showed China had 1,012 finless porpoises, down from 1,040 in 2012, which suggests conservation efforts may be working.
Yang Jinlong was once a fisherman in Nanjing. Now, the 45-year-old is a patrolman in an all-volunteer monitoring team of dozens of fish farmers.
“I grew up near the Yangtze and it brings me peace of mind,” Yang said. “It doesn’t matter that we can’t fish, but it matters that the ‘smiling angel’ keeps smiling.”
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