White dolphin, also known as the Baiji, which used to live in the Yangtze River in China has gone extinction in the Year 2006. The while dolphin are shy and almost blind. It had been known to exist for the last 20 million years. Its disappearance is believed to be the first time in a half-century, since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk seal, that a large aquatic mammal has been driven to extinction.
Based on the latest statement of Swiss co-leader of the joint Chinese -foreign expedition, August Pfluger, the water samples taken from the Yangze river, where was the main habitat for white dolphins did not show high concentrations of toxic substances. So the causes that result in white dolphins’ extinction are believed to be overfishing and shipping traffic, whose engines interfere with the sonar the white dolphin uses to navigate and feed.
Hi,
Would you say more about the “overfishing” part of the story? Is it mainly for domestic consumption?
What are the efforts being made to save the dolphins?
By: H. Chin on February 13, 2008
at 3:23 pm
Re: H.Chin
I tried to figure out a possible explanation to this overfishing thing but I did not find anything referring to the consumption of the white dolphin. Instead, we could interpret this overfishing as a condition that deplete the food source for the dolphins. China’s increasingly sophisticated and virtually unregulated fishing fleet is depleting the dolphin’s food supply. Because of overfishing, the white dolphin will be hungry and have to metabolize fatty tissues, where the organochlorines and other toxins are stored. In the dolphin’s bloodstream, they will weaken its immune system, rendering it more likely to get sick, say from viruses or bacteria in the sewage.
By: mwang110 on February 17, 2008
at 5:43 pm