 Baiji Yangtze Dolphin  Baiji Yangtze Dolphin
The Baiji Yangtze Dolphin a rare, nearly blind white dolphin is with all probability extinct. An international expedition declared Baiji Dolphin extinct after ending an unsuccesful six-week search of its habitat. Efforts were made to conserve the Baiji after its population began a drastic decline in recent decades. The odds were against the mammal, however, and a late 2006 expedition failed to find any in the river. Search expedition, under the direction of the Institute for Hydrobiology Wuhan and the Swiss-based baiji.org Foundation, drew to a finish without any results.
The Baiji was a freshwater dolphin found only in the Yangtze River in China. Nicknamed "Goddess of the Yangtze" in China, the dolphin was also called Chinese River Dolphin, Yangtze River Dolphin, Beiji, Whitefin Dolphin and Yangtze Dolphin. It is not to be confused with the Chinese White Dolphin. In the 1950s, the population was estimated at 6,000 animals, but declined rapidly over the subsequent five decades.
In the beginning of the 1980s the Yangtze still had around 400 Baiji cavorting in its waters. However, the river dolphin became a victim of China's rapidly growing economy. A 1997 survey still showed 13 confirmed sightings. The last confirmed sighting of a Baiji was in September 2004. QiQi, a dolphin male, who was rescued in 1980, died in July 2002 at the Institute of Hydrobiology in Wuhan.
In the above mentioned expedition the scientists were travelling on two research vessels almost 3500 kilometers from Yichang nearby the Three Gorges Dam to Shanghai into the Yangtze Delta and back, using high-performance optical instruments and underwater microphones.
«It is possible we may have missed one or two animals», said August Pfluger, head of Swiss-based baiji.org Foundation
and co-organizer of the expedition on Wednesday in Wuhan. Regardless, these animals would have no chance of survival in the river. «We have to accept the fact, that the Baiji is functionally extinct.. It is a tragedy, a loss not only for China, but for the entire world», said
Pfluger in Wuhan.
The expedition has been led by the Ministry of Agriculture and brought together world-class experts from institutes
such as the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
the Hubbs-Seaworld Institute from San Diego and the Fisheries Research Agency in Japan.
 Baiji Yangtze Dolphin
The baiji was for more than 20 years among the most disputed conservation issues between chinese and western scientists.
There has been especially in the nineties endless arguments and disputes about strategies how to save the species – whether to leave
them in their natural habitat or capture and move them to a safe place like the Tian-e-Zhou Oxbow "Semi Natural" Reserve. «Now we do not have
to discuss any longer. We have lost the race. The Baiji has gone», said August Pfluger
The decline of the Baiji appears to not be directly influenced by the water quality of the Yangtze. Within the framework of the Expedition, scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology did simultaneously investigate the chemical composition of the Yangtze river water and its particulate load. Scientists took both water and sediment samples from 30 different locations all along 1750 kilometers of the river. Although the Yangtze does have an altogether
high degree of pollutant build-up, at this time, as Beat Mueller from Eawag pointed out, there are no indications of toxic pollutants in high concentrations.
In an attempt to improve conservation of freshwater dolphins and their habitat, baiji.org foundation launched a series of projects and will, alongside with the Ocean Park Foundation Hong Kong, organize in the coming year the «Workshop on the Conservation of Asian Freshwater Dolphins» in Hong Kong.
The major project partners of the "Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Expedition 2006" were SGS, Anheuser-Busch, SeaWorld, Ocean Park Foundation Hong Kong and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Other sponsors include Canon, Fujinon, Garmin, Katadyn, KühneNagel, Pictet,
Transa, Victorinox and Ziemann.
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