China will try to move all white flag dolphins and black finless porpoises in the Yangtze River to a nature reserve and be bred under artificial conditions when the ecological conditions in the river can hardly improve, according to a seminar on the protection of the freshwater dolphin held in Wuhan.
According to Professor Zhang Xianfeng of the Institute of Aquatic Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Agriculture, the bureau of fisheries and his institute will join in efforts to move the dolphins and porpoises in the wild into Tianer’zhou nature reserve.
The institute have tried to breed 10 black finless porpoises in the reserve which was the ancient river channel of the river. Now, there are 20 in the reserve.
As the ecological conditions in the river basin worsens, the river is no longer the paradise for them. If no steps are taken, the white flag dolphins will disappear from the earth in 25 years.
(www.cenews.com.cn October 16, 2002)
