Original title: another Yangtze finless porpoise was found dead within five days after it was tied to a brick and sank into the lake
Within five days, another Yangtze finless porpoise was found dead. Earlier, the sinking of a finless porpoise bound with bricks in Dongting Lake, Hunan attracted people's attention.
On November 11, a volunteer of the finless porpoise Conservation Association in Jiayu County, Xianning City, Hubei Province told surging news that a dead finless porpoise was found in the Xinluo section of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province.
According to Guo, the person in charge of the baiji National Nature Reserve in Xinluo section of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province, the dead finless porpoise was found in Ruxi tower section of the Yangtze River in Linxiang City, Hunan Province and floated to Xinluo section of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province. At present, the dead finless porpoise has been brought back to the place, and the cause of death remains to be investigated.
The aforementioned staff said that according to the feedback, on November 11, the scientific researchers of the fishery resources and Environmental Protection Research Office of the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences rented the fishing boats of Luoshan fishermen for research. At about 9 a.m., the staff found the dead finless porpoise floating with the water in the Ruxi tower section of the Yangtze River, about 300 meters offshore. The finless porpoise is small, the body is fresh and has superficial injuries.
According to surging news, four days ago, on November 7, a dead Yangtze finless porpoise also appeared near the Dongting Lake Bridge in Yueyang, Hunan. The finless porpoise's tail fin was hung with two red bricks by nylon rope, and there were slight scratches on its body surface.
On December 13, 2016, the Ministry of agriculture (now the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas) issued the Yangtze finless porpoise rescue action plan (2016-2025). The document said that the Yangtze finless porpoise is an extremely endangered species. The Yangtze finless porpoise is the only freshwater subspecies of the finless porpoise. It is also the only witness of the evolution of the finless porpoise from the sea to the river. At the same time, it is one of the important rare freshwater cetaceans in the world.
As the flagship species of the Yangtze River aquatic ecosystem, the population status of the Yangtze River finless porpoise is an important indicator of the health status of the Yangtze River aquatic ecosystem.
Yu Kangzhen, Vice Minister of agriculture and rural areas, held a press conference on the morning of July 24, 2018 and introduced that at the end of 2017, the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas organized and implemented an ecological scientific investigation of the Yangtze finless porpoise. The results show that the sharp decline of the Yangtze finless porpoise population has been curbed, but its extremely endangered situation has not changed and is still severe. It is estimated that the number of Yangtze finless porpoises is about 1012.