Only 200 of the Rare Marine Mammals Left : Yangtze River Dolphin Vanishing From China

Mutilated by boat propellers or caught on the hooks and nets of sturgeon fishermen, one of the world’s rarest marine mammals, the Yangtze River dolphin, is disappearing.

Only about 200 dolphins remain in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, and they are dying at the rate of 10 to 20 a year as river traffic increases, according to researchers.

Scientists at the Institute of Hydrobiology in this Yangtze port said most casualties are caused by fishing gear, but they theorize that some dolphins are lured to their deaths by the underwater hum of propellers, triggering the animals’ sensitive sonar system.

Boats Prime Suspect

Another team of researchers down river at Nanking Teachers College is convinced that boats are the main cause of the dolphins’ decline.

The Yangtze dolphin is one of 12 freshwater species found in Asia and South America.

Local officials have begun to take notice of the animal’s plight, and in 1984 two fishermen in Anhui province were sentenced to six months in prison for killing three dolphins, the New China News Agency reported.

The news agency also reported a provincial leader’s praise for two peasants who carried a wounded dolphin to their village for emergency treatment.

Only One in Captivity

Qiqi, a male dolphin brought to the Wuhan institute in 1980, was the only river dolphin in captivity until last March when two others, a father and daughter, were caught and transported by air force helicopter to join him.

Qiqi had been gouged by fishing hooks and still has two large white scars.

The 440-pound dolphin frolics with a life preserver and plastic ball in a covered outdoor tank near Wuhan’s East Lake. He eats about 45 pounds of fish a day and costs the institute the equivalent of $15,600 a year to keep.

The two newcomers, held in a nearby pool, will not join Qiqi until researchers are sure they carry no diseases.

Breeding Plans

The young female, almost 2 years old, has not reached reproductive age, but scientists hope she and Qiqi will mate.

The Chinese government has declared its intention to save the Yangtze dolphin but it has limited resources to address the crisis, said Li Rongao, deputy director of the state Environmental Protection Agency’s nature conservation division.

He said funding for protective measures is not expected until 1987 at the earliest, and noted that priority so far has gone to the internationally backed campaign to save China’s giant pandas, endangered by famine.

“The river dolphin can also be considered a top priority, but the main problem is money,” Li said.

Foreign Help Coming

Institute Director Liu Jiankang said research funding is inadequate, but this year the Chinese Academy of Sciences lifted a prohibition on assistance from foreign scientists.

The institute expects foreign specialists to attend a conference in October on protecting marine animals.

The Environmental Protection Agency is considering plans to set up monitored reserves, and has found a section of the Yangtze in Anhui province for a seminatural breeding ground, but funding must be approved at higher levels and remains uncertain.

Yangtze basin authorities are considering small-scale measures of their own, such as a fishing ban in dolphin-inhabited areas and safety nets in little-traveled parts of the river.