In order to better protect the Yangtze River, finless porpoise and its habitat through the Pengze County section of Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, CBCGDF and the Pengze County Finless Porpoise Conservation Center have reached an official collaboration: on November 1, 2018, a licensing ceremony of the establishment of CBCGDF “China Conservation Area for Finless Porpoise at Pengze” was held. The heads of the relevant departments of Pengze County and the representative of CBCGDF specially witnessed the born of the CCAfa.

Historically, the Pengze section of the Yangtze River has been the key water area for the distribution of finless porpoises. According to the observations of CBCGDF local volunteers, there are about 40 Yangtze finless porpoises currently living in the waters. In May 2017, the Pengze County Finless Porpoise Conservation Center was established. The founder purchased a speedboat by himself, since then, he has been paying attention to the promotion of protecting the Yangtze Finless Porpoise. It also has drawn large attention from the society. At present, this nature conservation center has a patrol team of about 8-11 people. They have formed a good complementarity and collaboration with relevant local authorities in opposing illegal fishing, reporting pollution discharges along the Yangtze River, and rescuing wild birds.

A member of the center said: "In the beginning, our patrol was to leave in the morning and come back at night. But it was later found that poaching occurred mostly after the relevant departments’ off work time, or on holidays and in the middle of the night. So, we adjusted the patrolling time to weekends or holidays, and many times it is patrolled at night, to protect the finless porpoises in the river.”

The leader of the Pengze County Environmental Protection Administration said that the biggest advantage of the local area is the coastline of the Yangtze River. Willing to work with the volunteers of the “China Conservation Area for Finless Porpoise at Pengze” in the future to protect the ecological environment and the Yangtze River. CBCGDF has established the “China Conservation Areas for Finless Porpoise” in Hunan and Anhui provinces respectively. Pengze County is the first CCAfa site for finless porpoise established by CBCGDF in Jiangxi Province.

(Photo: CBCGDF)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4855/6623.html

By / Niu Jingmei