STOCKHOLM, Sept. 9 — Dolphins are an important indicator of river health and their decline should be an alarm for people, said Dr. Li Lifeng, director of the World Wildlife Fund ( WWF)'s Freshwater Program in an interview with Xinhua at the ongoing World Water Week in Stockholm on Wednesday.
"The well-being of river dolphins is a telltale indicator of river health, and their decline should sound an alarm bell for everyone — our rivers are at risk, and we need to clean up our act to stop this nosedive,"said Li, who has just released a research report entitled River Dolphins and People: Shared Rivers, Shared Future at the World Water Week.
He said that river dolphins and porpoises swim in some of the world's largest rivers, including the Yangtze, Ganges, Mekong, Indus and Amazon.
"The Yangtze river dolphin, or baiji, is functionally extinct. It is a sad story. But the hope is that in a branch of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, over a decade of cultivation, the number of dolphins increased from just a few to about 35 now. This gives people hope that if mankind are careful, it is possible to have more dolphins,"Li said.
"Maybe it is possible in the undisturbed waters at the branches of the Yangtze River."
He supports Chinese fishery experts' call that there should be a total ban of fishing in the Yangtze River.
"I believe that the Chinese government is capable to find alternative livelihood for those fishing farmers because the fishes in the Yangtze River are indeed much less compared with Mekong River, it is not sustainable for the people as well as the river if more fishing is done in the Yangtze," said Li who used to be directly in charge of the Yangtze River ecosystem research in WWF China.
He said that saving the dolphins will have positive effects not only on biodiversity in the Yangtze and other rivers, but also conducive to the surrounding freshwater ecosystems, international river basins and ultimately to the people. (PNA/Xinhua)
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