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  Yahoo News 2 Dec 06
Chinese river dolphin nears extinction: Xinhua

Yahoo News 2 Dec 06
Yangtze expedition fails to find endangered Chinese dolphin
by Pratap Chakravarty

ET BEIJING (AFP) - A team of 30 Chinese and foreign scientists have failed in a 26-day search for the rare white-flag dolphin in the Yangtze River, raising fears of imminent extinction.

The last such expedition, in 1997, located 13 of the world's rarest dolphins, which lives only in China's longest river, the Yangtze, Xinhua news agency said Saturday.

The white-flag dolphin is considered to be more endangered than the giant panda, which lives in remote forest areas, because the dolphin faces additional threats from pollution and environmental degradation, it said.

"We can't say the white-flag dolphin is extinct. However, the population has dropped dramatically over the past decade," Wang Ding, vice director of the hydrobiology institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was quoted as saying. Wang and his colleagues estimate that no more than 50 are left.

During a 1,700-kilometer (1,100-mile) trip down the river that ended in Shanghai, the scientists found that the population of black finless porpoises had also fallen.

Wang said pollution, overfishing, shipping and a large number of water conservancy projects had affected the habitats of the animals, Xinhua said.

"If the situation cannot be improved, the white-flag dolphin may be extinct within ten years, and the black finless porpoise will also be endangered," Wang said.

There are an estimated 1,000 black finless porpoises in the river, about half the number 12 years ago, Wang said.

Yahoo News 2 Dec 06
Chinese river dolphin nears extinction: Xinhua

BEIJING (Reuters) - Scientists who spent nearly a month in a fruitless search for a Chinese river dolphin that is more endangered than the Giant Panda say there may be no more than 50 left alive, the Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

The Baiji, also known as the Yangtze dolphin, only lives in China's longest river but a 26-day, 1,700-km (1,060-mile) hunt by Chinese and foreign experts failed to find any of the mammals.

"We can't say the white-flag dolphin is extinct," Xinhua quoted Wang Ding, vice director of the hydrobiology institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as saying. "However, the population has dropped dramatically over the past decade ... If the situation cannot be improved, the white-flag dolphin may be extinct within 10 years," added Wang, who estimated the total population at no more than 50.

The last expedition in 1997 found only 13 of the dolphins, which have suffered from pollution, overfishing, shipping and dams and other water diversions along the river.

China has set up a conservation base for the dolphin in a lake in central Hubei province, but as no dolphins have been caught in recent years hopes of using a breeding program to build up the population are fading.
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