China’s Yangtze Finless Porpoise Faces 80 Percent Decrease in 30 Years

The already rare Yangtze finless porpoise ( Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis ) faces an 80 percent drop in its population over the next 30 years, according to research by the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Currently, around 1,000 of the freshwater porpoises live in China’s Yangtze River and its surrounding lakes, down from 2,700 in 1991 and 2,000 in the year 2000. That number continues to drop 6.4 percent a year, according to Wang Ding , principal investigator for the Institute, who told the Xinhua News Agency, “The next 10 years will be a critical period for the conservation of this species.” [More]

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China’s Yangtze Finless Porpoise Faces 80 Percent Decrease in 30 Years