page_title: Baiji
section_title: Conservation efforts
hierarchical_section_title: Baiji / Conservation / Conservation efforts
caption_attribution_description: Map of conservation efforts of the baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) along the Yangtze
context_page_description: The baiji is a possibly extinct species of freshwater dolphin, and is thought to be the first dolphin species driven to extinction due to the impact of humans. Since Baiji means 'white fin' in Chinese, it means 'white-finned dolphin'. In China, the species is also called the Chinese river dolphin, Yangtze river dolphin, Yangtze dolphin and whitefin dolphin. Nicknamed the "Goddess of the Yangtze", it was regarded as the goddess of protection by local fishermen and boatmen. It is not to be confused with the Chinese white dolphin or the finless porpoise.
  The baiji population declined drastically in decades as China industrialized and made heavy use of the river for fishing, transportation, and hydroelectricity. It has been credibly claimed, after surveys in the Yangtze River during the 1980s, that baiji could be the first dolphin species in history that humans have driven to extinction. A Conservation Action Plan for Cetaceans of the Yangtze River was approved by the Chinese Government in 2001. Efforts were made to conserve the species, but a late 2006 expedition failed to find any baiji in the river. Organizers declared the baiji functionally extinct.
context_section_description: During the 1970s, China recognized the precarious state of the river dolphin. The government outlawed deliberate killing, restricted fishing, and established nature reserves.
  In 1978, the Chinese Academy of Sciences established the Freshwater Dolphin Research Centre (淡水海豚研究中心) as a branch of the Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology. In the 1980s and 1990s, several attempts were made to capture dolphins and relocate them to a reserve. A breeding program would then allow the species to recover and be reintroduced to the Yangtze after conditions improve. However, capturing the rare, quick dolphins proved to be difficult, and few captives survived more than a few months.
  The first Chinese aquatic species protection organisation, the Baiji Dolphin Conservation Foundation of Wuhan (武汉白鱀豚保护基金), was founded in December 1996. It has raised 1,383,924.35 CNY (about US$100,000) and used the funds for in vitro cell preservation and to maintain the baiji facilities, including the Shishou Sanctuary that was flooded in 1998.
  Since 1992, five protected areas of the Yangtze have been designated as baiji reserves. Four were built in the main Yangtze channel where baiji are actively protected and fishing is banned: two national reserves (Shishou City and Xin-Luo) and two provincial (Tongling and Zhenjiang). In the past 20 years, five nature reserves have been
  established along the river. Imposing maximum prohibition of harmful and
  illegal fishing methods in the reserves might prolong the process of extinction
  of these cetaceans in the wild, but so far, the administrative measures taken
  in the reserves have not yet kept the baiji population from sharply declining. As humans continue to occupy the river and use the natural resources it provided, the question as to whether the river itself can reach a point later in the future to become a habitat for these species to live in once again remained, for the most part, unanswered by conservationists. In Shishou, Hubei Province, and Tongling, Anhui Province, the two semi-natural reserves established in these regions aimed to build in an environment for the baiji, as well as another mammalian species, the finless porpoise, to breed. Through careful management, both these species not only survived, but did in fact reproduce successfully enough to
  provide some hope that the Baiji may be able to make a comeback.
  The fifth protected area is an isolated oxbow lake located off of the north bank of the river near to Shishou City: the Tian-e-Zhou Oxbow Semi-natural Reserve. Combined, these five reserves cover just over 350 kilometres (220 mi), about ​¹⁄₃ of the baijis range, leaving two-thirds of the species' habitat unprotected.
  As well as these five protected areas there are also five "Protection Stations" in Jianli, Chenglingji, Hukou, Wuhu and Zhengjiang. These stations consist of two observers and a motorized fishing boat with the aim of conducting daily patrols, making observations and investigating reports of illegal fishing.
  In 2001, the Chinese government approved a Conservation Action Plan for Cetaceans of the Yangtze River. This plan re-emphasised the three measures identified at the 1986 workshop and was adopted as the national policy for the conservation of the Baiji. Despite all of these workshops and conventions little money was available in China to aid the conservation efforts. It has been estimated that US$1 million was needed to begin the project and maintain it for a further 3 years.
  Efforts to save the mammals proved to be too little and too late. August Pfluger, chief executive of the Baiji.org Foundation, said, "The strategy of the Chinese government was a good one, but we didn't have time to put it into action." Furthermore, the conservation attempts have been criticized, as even with the international attention about the need for conservation for the baiji, the Chinese government did not "[make] any serious investment" to protect the baiji.
caption: Conservation efforts of the baiji along the Yangtze River
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