IPA REVIEW

The loss of the baiji Jennifer Marohasy

ou have probably never heard ges, Indus and Irrawaddy dolphins and The extinction of the baiji—the graceful, grey the finless porpoise. Ydolphin endemic to the Yangtze It has been argued that the baiji of the baiji will River with tiny eyes and a long narrow are the most important species within beak. If you ever visit China, chances this group because the baiji is a whole have taken place are you will never see one. separate genus. Randall Reeves, Chair The baiji may be extinct. A sur- of the Cetacean Specialist Group at at a time of vey carried out in March this year by the IUCN (International Union for a team of experts from China, the US, the Conservation of Nature), has sug- unprecedented UK and Switzerland failed to locate a gested that their disappearance would single baiji. The last confirmed sight- be like the ‘snapping off a complete interest and ing was in September 2004. The baiji, branch from the tree of mammalian concern for their Lipotes vexillifer, may be the first species radiation’. of cetacean—whale, dolphin and por- Dr Reeves believes that a small large relative, the poise—to become extinct in modern number of baiji are surviving at low times. The extinction will have taken population densities and that funding minke whale. place at a time of unprecedented inter- is needed for an ambitious plan to find, est and concern for their large relative, capture and move them to a semi-nat- the minke whale. ural reserve. He believes that it is still empty and a single adult baiji was be- It is perhaps a sad reflection of hu- possible to establish a breeding popula- ing kept in a small circular pool. They manity’s inability to prioritise effective- tion of baiji in the relatively protected reported that the pool was not clean, ly on the basis of need, that so many environment of the Tian-e-Zhou ox- filtration apparently difficult because resources and so much publicity has bow. This is a 21-kilometre long stretch of power outages. been devoted to ‘saving whales’, while of water adjacent to the Yangtze River. In a recent issue of Conservation Bi- the fate of this small freshwater ceta- But not everyone agrees, and it’s ology, Professor Guang Yang of Nanjing cean has gone mostly unreported. not the first time that a plan to capture University wrote that saving the baiji is Indeed, just last summer, Green- and move the baiji has been promoted. essentially a lost cause and that avail- peace sent two ships to the Antarctic In 1995, a team of 70 people and able resources should now be spent on to save minke whales. We saw images 22 boats searched the lower Yangtze for saving the finless porpoise—the only on national television of young activists baiji. The plan was to establish a cap- other species of cetacean in the Yangtze in rubber inflatables manoeuvring be- tive breeding programme at the Wu- River. tween Japanese whaler and whale. But han Institute of Hydrobiology and also There are perhaps 2,000 finless minke whales are not about to become to establish a small population in the porpoises, Neophocaena phocaenoides, extinct. In fact there are hundreds of Tian-e-Zhou reserve. Several baiji were in the river and a breeding population thousands, if not millions, of minke sighted but none successfully captured. of 26 porpoises has been successfully whales. The Baiji Conservation Aquarium established in the Tian-e-Zhou reserve. In terms of the world’s cetaceans, at the Wuhan Institute was completed Illegal fishing (including fishing there is no greater need than a plan of in 1992 following a grant from the in this nature reserve) is an ongoing action to save the freshwater dolphins World Wide Fund for Nature and the source of concern. Set net, poisoning, and porpoise that are just hanging on Endoshima Aquarium in Japan. But dynamite, rolling hook (lines of iron in Asia’s rivers. This includes the Gan- when two American scientists, Don- hooks set across the flow of the river) ald Hoard and Stefanie Watcher, vis- and electro-fishing are officially banned ited just three years later, they reported along the entire length of the Yangtze Jennifer Marohasy is a Senior Fel- that it was in a state of ‘anonymity and River, but these fishing practices are re- low with the Institute of Public Af- neglect’. The main aquarium tank was portedly still widely practised. fairs.

R E V I E W 30 OCTOBER 2006 Across the world, fisherman and small cetaceans have a lot in common.

Bottlenose dolphins

The new Swiss-based Baiji.org Prime Minister. death in fishing gear’, considered the Foundation is planning to employ Meanwhile, in Burma, the Whale most likely cause of death. ‘skilled baiji guards’ to enforce the fish- and Dolphin Conservation Society The next 50 years is likely to be ing legislation, including through daily (WDCS) is working with the local a period of unprecedented economic patrols of the Tian-e-Zhou reserve. In Department of Fisheries to protect and population growth in Asia. This reality, this and other initiatives pro- what is known as the human–dolphin will place tremendous pressure on the posed to ‘save the baiji’ are likely to cooperative fishery in the Ayeyarwady world’s resources, but particularly on be of more benefit to finless porpoises River. Gill netting will be illegal in a the rivers of central and East Asia. The given that this is the species which cur- 70-kilometre stretch of the river where species of freshwater cetacean unique rently inhabits the reserve. cast-net fishermen traditionally work to this region are unlikely to survive if, A recurring theme in freshwater with dolphins. like the baiji in Wuhan in 1995, they dolphin and porpoise conservation It is an example of inter-species are left in a state of ‘anonymity and ne- across Asia is ‘accidental death in fish- mutualism. The local fishermen tap the glect’. ing gear’—particularly entanglement side of their boats asking the dolphins Last year marked ten years since and drowning in driftnets and gillnets. for help. If the dolphins agree, together Donald Hoard and Stefanie Watcher Next summer, instead of heading they corral the fish towards the shore. visited Wuhan. Last year the Baiji to the Antarctic, Greenpeace activists The dolphins will signal again when it Conservation Aquarium at the In- could perhaps launch their inflatables is time for the fishermen to cast their stitute of Hydrobiology, through the into the Yangtze and other Asian rivers nets. The dolphins feed on the fish mo- Baiji.org Foundation, announced the to highlight some of these issues. mentarily stuck on the mud bottom birth of the first-ever freshwater ceta- A project initiated by New-Zealand after the net is pulled up. cean in captivity. The Aquarium an- born Isabel Beasley titled ‘The Mekong Across the world, fisherman and nounced the birth of a healthy Yangtze Dolphin Conservation Project’ is fo- small cetaceans have a lot in common. finless porpoise. cused on saving the last 170 Irrawaddy Their survival is dependent on a sus- It may be too late for the baiji, but dolphins in the Mekong and appears tainable fishery, which in turn -is de surely this is a sign of hope for Asia’s to now have the support of local com- pendent on reasonable water quality. other freshwater cetacean. munities in southern Laos, Cambodia Earlier this year, ten Irrawaddy dol- and Vietnam, James Cook University phins, eight of them calves, were found I P A in Australia, the Cambodian Depart- dead in the Mekong River, with pollu- ment of Fisheries and the Cambodian tion, rather than the usual ‘accidental

R E V I E W 31 OCTOBER 2006