On 28 October, Nanjing authorities announced that an intelligent monitoring system, including underwater acoustics, will be established in the Nanjing Yangtze Finless Porpoise Provincial Nature Reserve. The-one-of-a kind porpoise, known as “baiji” in Chinese, was brought to the verge of extinction earlier in the 2010s.
Established in September of 2014, the Reserve has a total area of 86.92 square kilometres and a coastline of 44.8 kilometres. The Reserve carries out protection, scientific-research monitoring, popular-science propaganda, water-project supervision, water-ecological restoration and other work as it relates to the porpoise, in line with current environmental national policies.
Since its establishment, great importance has been attached to the protection of the finless porpoise in the Yangtze River at Nanjing. Such efforts have included establishing of six monitoring locations, at which observers attempt to measure the population dynamics of the porpoise and the ecological protection of the shoreline all year round.
However, the system has many limitations, not least the fact that the porpoises spend very little time emerging from the water and remaining on or near the surface. Hence, the move to establish an acoustic monitoring system that can better understand the behaviour of the porpoise underwater and provide support for further protection. In the future, the real-time information will be aggregated into a data platform located in the Yangtze River Ecological Civilisation Centre.
In addition, Nanjing plans to establish a Finless-Porpoise Emergency Care Base in Xinjizhou Wetland that can immediately address the needs of injured porpoises.
Such will be complimented by additional locations in key riverside areas, such as Zhongshan Wharf and the Nanjing No. 3 Yangtze River Bridge, whereby there can be deployed video and infrared probes for better observation and monitoring. The aim is to have five bases in operation by the end of this year.
On the verge of extinction for many years, The Yangtze River finless porpoise is the only freshwater subspecies of the finless-porpoise family. The species, only found in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, has been with us for 25 million years, give or take.
With their numbers greatly reduced due to environmental deterioration, Nanjing has adopted various methods to protect the ecological environment, including the issuing of a blanket fishing ban in the river section since 2014.
Nanjing is the only Chinese city where visitors can observe the wild Yangtze River finless porpoise in an urban area. While their total population today is estimated at a little over 1,000, at present, their population in the Nanjing reserve is stable at around 50, a number that is gradually rising, it is hoped.
