Is the national first-level protected animal Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin listed as a medicinal-use animal?

Recently, some conservation scholars questioned the document “Guidelines for 2020 Project of NNSF Joint Fund for Regional Innovation and Development (The 2nd Batch)” published on the official website of the National Natural Science Foundation (NNSF). On page 37 of the document, Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin is listed as medicinal-use animal and the scholars hope to carry out the pharmaceutical research, which has caused industrial disputes.

The reporter noted on the official website of NNSF that this is the notice on the issuance of “Guidelines for 2020 Project of NNSF Joint Fund for Regional Innovation and Development (The 2nd Batch)”, which was released on April 1st.

According to the introduction of the notice on project application issued at the same time, NNSF and local government jointly funded the establishment of NNSF regional innovation and development joint fund, which is an integral part of NNSF, its purpose is to “give full play to the guiding role of NNSF, attract and gather the national superior scientific research forces, focus on the major needs of regional economic and social development, focus on the key scientific issues in regional development to carry out basic research and applied basic research, promote cross-regional and cross-departmental collaborative innovation, and promote the improvement of regional independent innovation capacity in China.”

The applicant and the supporting unit shall apply according to the requirements and precautions stated in the project guide and notice. According to the introduction, the funding period of key support projects and integration projects is 4 years, and the average funding intensity of direct costs of key support projects is about 2.6 million RMB per project.

Before that, “Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin is listed as a rare medicinal-use marine animal” was described in the 5th article of the 2nd part of the annual project guide “environment and ecology field” around the 3rd article of the development of marine resources in the Beibu Gulf.

On the morning of April 23rd, the reporter called the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The staff who answered the phone said they did not know about this matter. If the information is released, it can be found on its WeChat public official account or NNSF’s official website. If people cannot find it on the website, then the relative information has not published yet.

When the reporter logged in the NNSF official website, the reporter noticed that the expression about the medicinal research of Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin in the document had disappeared. In the document, the “special medical marine animal resources in Beibu Gulf such as Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin and Tachypleus tridentatus (Tachypleus tridentatus)” are revised to “based on the special medical marine animal resources in Beibu Gulf”.

The Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin is listed as an endangered animal. If it is listed as a medicinal-use animal, it may accelerate its extinction.

Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin (Sousa chinensis) is a large marine mammal, which is known as “giant panda in the sea” and “mermaid”, and also known as “Mazu fish” in the southeast coast of China. In the list of National Key Protected Wild Animals in China, Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin is listed as the national first-level protected wild animal; in the Red List of Chinese Species, it is listed as endangered.

What would be the impact of including Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin in the resources of characteristic medicinal-use marine animals?

Sun Quanhui, a scientist with the World Animal Protection, told the reporter that the animals listed as the first level protected by the state often mean that the population in the wild of the species is very low and the distribution range is small. If the protection is not strengthened, these wild animals are likely to be extinct. He pointed out that special caution should be taken in the utilization of wildlife under state key protection. If it is included in the medical category, it is likely to aggravate the problems of wild poaching and illegal wildlife trade for the species, as well as various animal welfare problems in the process of captive breeding.

“Take pangolin as an example. Due to the large demand for medicine and illegal consumption, the number of wild populations of the only eight species of pangolin in the world has plummeted in the past few years or even partially disappeared. This is also a warning for the protection and utilization of wildlife in other national key protection lists.” Sun Quanhui reminded that the Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin is a national first-level protected animal, which belongs to the same protection level as the giant panda and tiger. As a result of catching by mistake, shipping, water pollution, food resources reduction, and other reasons, Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin needs to strengthen its research and protection. In the absence of scientific evidence, it may aggravate the threat of its survival to list it as a medicinal-use animal.

“Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin is at the top of the food chain in the ecosystem and play an important role in the marine ecosystem.” In an interview with the reporter, Professor Wu Shibao of the School of Life Sciences of South China Normal University pointed out that the project should be more rigorous. Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin is already so rare that it can’t be protected. It is not appropriate to talk about putting this species into a medicine-use animal. This is certainly bad for species protection, and Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin is not included in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia.

China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) also specifically called for this matter: As China’s national second-level protected wild animal - pangolin, because of its use as medicine and illegal consumption, has resulted in the global endangered of all three genera and eight species. Moreover, the so-called domestication, breeding, and sustainable utilization in China often lead to the death of pangolins one after another. We cannot let the Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin repeat pangolin’s destiny. As for the Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin, we should try our best to protect it and be responsible for future generations.

Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of CBCGDF, said that in recent years, with frequent maritime traffic, coastal water pollution, food reduction, beach occupation and development, and other reasons, the living conditions of large marine mammals such as the Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin in the wild have become more and more difficult. They often run aground and die by accident, and their population continues to decline. “There is no authoritative statistical data on the number of Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin in the wild. Researchers estimate that the global population of wild Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphins should be less than 20,000. There are more than 4,000 Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphins in China.”

(Photo source: Internet)

Original Chinese article:

https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2020-04-24/doc-iirczymi8033647.shtml

By / Xue Tongtong Modified / Maggie