Xu Yaping: Give up life to protect the finless porpoise (life is what I want; Righteousness is also what I want. You can't have both, and you have to sacrifice your life for righteousness. In order to protect the finless porpoise, Xu Yaping worked more than 15 hours a day, paid a lot of blood and sweat, invested a lot of money, and even suffered life threats, but he still had no regrets. Xu Yaping is the stationmaster of Yueyang reporter station of Hunan Daily, and the president of Yueyang finless porpoise protection association (hereinafter referred to as "the association"), the first non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting finless porpoises in China. Today, Xu Yaping works more than 15 hours a day, completing his job as a journalist and making careful plans for the protection of the finless porpoise. He paid blood and sweat, invested a lot of money, and even suffered life threats many times, but he still has no regrets! "If I die, I will die on Dongting Lake to protect the finless porpoise. I don't want to die at home. Xu Yaping said the same thing more than once on different occasions. The Yangtze finless porpoise is the first known finless porpoise and the only freshwater finless porpoise subspecies in the world. It has lived on the earth for 25 million years and is known as the "living fossil" of the Yangtze River ecology and the "giant panda in the water". Only distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake. Scientific research in 2006 found that the number of Yangtze finless porpoises was less than that of giant pandas. However, the "20 12 Yangtze River Freshwater Dolphin Scientific Investigation" which ended at 65438 on February 24th last year found that the total number of finless porpoises had been reduced to half of that in 2006. Wang Ding, a researcher at the Institute of Hydrology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is worried that if the current situation continues, the Yangtze finless porpoise will be extinct within 10 years. However, according to Xu Yaping's recollection, in the late 1980s, when he worked as a waiter in the Transocean Hotel, he could often see the finless porpoises jumping in groups in the sparkling Dongting Lake through the floor-to-ceiling glass in the west window of the hotel. The cute innocence of the finless porpoise was deeply imprinted in Xu Yaping's mind, and he had an "inexplicable love" for the finless porpoise from then on. Later, when looking up information in the library, Xu Yaping learned that the Yangtze finless porpoise is a national protected animal, the only freshwater finless porpoise in the world, and an important indicator of the health of the Yangtze freshwater ecosystem. Since then, when he bought fish for the hotel every morning, he never forgot to say to the fishermen, "Please don't hurt the finless porpoise!" " I heard that a fisherman saved the finless porpoise, and he would run over and bow 90 degrees to each other. For the number of finless porpoises in that period, many old fishermen in Dongting Lake also described it as "ten thousand Ma Benteng". "At that time, there were many chess pieces, and they were often seen jumping out of the water." Zhang Xinben, a fisherman by Dongting Lake, said, waving his hands in the air. "We don't know what kind of fish this is, and we want to try it." But no one expected that the finless porpoise would become an "extremely endangered" species after more than 20 years. At the end of last year 10, the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a preliminary investigation on two important habitats of finless porpoises in Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake for nearly 20 days, and found that the number of finless porpoises in Dongting Lake dropped sharply from more than 50 in10 six years ago to about 90. However, Xu Yaping did not agree with this result: "We patrol the lake every day, and there are only 55 heads left in Dongting Lake." No matter which figure is more accurate, the Yangtze finless porpoise has already reached the "extremely dangerous level" according to the standard of IUCN's Red Book of Endangered Species, which is the biggest "heart disease" of Xu Yaping in recent two years, and it is also the main driving force for him to devote himself to the finless porpoise protection work and establish the finless porpoise protection association. The finless porpoise died because of humans. Why did the Yangtze finless porpoise suffer extinction? Xu Yaping painfully told reporters that at present, the survival threat of finless porpoises mainly comes from human beings. Wang Ding also pointed out that the finless porpoise has no natural enemies, and human activities are the biggest threat to its survival. Daming He dropped out of school at the age of 9 and went fishing in Dongting Lake, where he lived for 35 years. He witnessed the "progress" of Dongting Lake fishery and how the finless porpoise became extinct step by step. 1985 the so-called "ecstasy" fishing net appeared in Dongting Lake, and 1994 the phenomenon of electric fishing appeared. In 2005, the net enclosure rose in an all-round way on the lake. This "new invention" seriously threatened the survival of finless porpoises and fish and shrimp. The water quality is getting worse and worse, and the fish are getting smaller and smaller, which is the same feeling of fishermen on Dongting Lake. The tragic fate of the finless porpoise in Dongting Lake is also a microcosm of the fate of the entire Yangtze finless porpoise population. At the same time, the modern busy water traffic also threatens the safety of finless porpoises. The underwater motor sound of ships affects the ultrasonic positioning accuracy of finless porpoises. Many finless porpoises mistook motor sound waves for their companions and were killed or injured by propellers. Xu Yaping learned in the interview that the living space of the finless porpoise is getting smaller and smaller due to the busy shipping. Even in the area where Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake enter the Yangtze River, high-density ships interrupt the gene exchange of finless porpoise population, with males far exceeding females, and the ratio of male to female is seriously out of balance. The adverse effects of increasingly serious and disorderly sand mining on finless porpoises are becoming more and more prominent. Sand carriers shuttled back and forth, seriously occupying the migration passage of finless porpoises and collecting sand crazily. The hollowed-out riverbed left finless porpoises with no place to breed and no place to live. Wei Baoyu, a project official of the World Wide Fund for Nature, pointed out that water conservancy facilities along the Yangtze River, including cement and stone revetment, on the one hand have a negative impact on the echolocation system and reproduction of finless porpoises, on the other hand, they have destroyed and reduced fish habitats and breeding sites. In addition, with the influence of global climate change, extreme weather events and the above threats have formed a superposition effect, which has become a new threat faced by finless porpoises. Facing the increasingly severe living conditions of the finless porpoise, Xu Yaping and a group of like-minded fishermen sprouted the idea of quickly establishing a finless porpoise protection association and called on all sectors of society to participate. So they went to various counties and departments to lobby for the protection of the finless porpoise, and called on Party committees, people's congresses, governments, CPPCC, fishery administration, environmental protection departments and non-governmental organizations at all levels in Yueyang City to increase the publicity of the protection of the finless porpoise and quickly raise public awareness of the protection of the finless porpoise. Their actions were quickly supported by relevant departments. 20 12, 65438 10. On October 8th, Yueyang finless porpoise protection association was formally established, which was an important step for the Yangtze finless porpoise protection. In order to protect the finless porpoise, he risked his body many times. After the establishment of the Association, the focus of Xu Yaping's work has quietly changed. Now, the stationmaster of this reporter station prefers others to regard him as an environmental worker. Also from the day when the Association was founded, Xu Yaping insisted on working 15 hours every day. "Protect the finless porpoise, media first, public opinion first! Protect the finless porpoise, start from me, start from you! " How to substantially protect the finless porpoise was mentioned by Xu Yaping when the association was founded. Therefore, when the association was established, Xu Yaping gave full play to its own advantages and published the Declaration on the Protection of the Yangtze finless porpoise in China, which put forward three major goals: First, upgrade the finless porpoise to a national first-class protected animal as soon as possible; The second is to promote the establishment of the East Dongting Lake finless porpoise nature reserve as soon as possible; The third is to explore the implementation of ex-situ conservation of finless porpoises and put forward the slogan of "taking dolphins as the foundation and putting out fire and water". Later, he also organized a volunteer propaganda group to go deep into lakes, schools, villages and water fishermen in Xiangyin, Quyuan, Miluo, Yueyang, Yueyanglou District, Huarong, Junshan, Yunxi and Linxiang to preach the protection of finless porpoises. Establish observation stations and volunteer workstations for the protection of finless porpoises, and carry out activities such as regular observation, investigation and rescue of injured finless porpoises to protect finless porpoises; Regularly publish periodicals, carry out education on protecting animals and enhancing environmental awareness, and expose and lash the thoughts and behaviors that harm finless porpoises and destroy nature; Hold seminars on the protection and living conditions of finless porpoises, hold various training courses and hold various lectures. Source: environment