Xu Yaping: To protect the finless porpoise by sacrificing his life for righteousness (Life is what I want; righteousness is also what I want. You cannot have both, and you are sacrificing your life for righteousness.) Xu Yaping, in order to protect the finless porpoise, I worked more than 15 hours a day, put in my blood, sweat, invested huge sums of money, and even suffered threats to my life, but I still had no regrets. Xu Yaping is the head of the Yueyang reporter station of Hunan Daily and the president of the Yueyang Finless Porpoise Protection Association (hereinafter referred to as the “Association”), my country’s first private organization dedicated to protecting finless porpoises. Today, Xu Yaping works more than 15 hours a day, completing his job as a reporter while making careful plans to protect the finless porpoise. He devoted his blood and sweat, invested huge sums of money, and even suffered threats to his life many times, but he still has no regrets! "If I die, I will die on Dongting Lake, protecting the finless porpoise. I don't want to die at home." Xu Yaping said the same thing more than once on different occasions. First introduction to the Yangtze finless porpoise The Yangtze finless porpoise is the only freshwater subspecies of finless porpoise in the world. It has survived on the earth for 25 million years. It is called the "living fossil" of the Yangtze River ecology and the "giant panda in the water". It is only distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake. and Poyang Lake and other areas. A scientific research study in 2006 found that the Yangtze finless porpoise population is smaller than that of giant pandas. The "2012 Yangtze River Freshwater Porpoise Scientific Expedition" that ended on December 24 last year found that the overall number of finless porpoises has been reduced to half of the number visited in 2006. Wang Ding, a researcher at the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said worriedly that if the current situation continues, the Yangtze finless porpoise will become extinct within 10 years. However, according to Xu Yaping's recollection, in the late 1980s, when he was a waiter at Yueyang Hotel, through the floor-to-ceiling glass of the hotel's west window, he could often see groups of finless porpoises in the sparkling waves of Dongting Lake. The team marched forward with joy. The endearing and naive attitude of the finless porpoise was deeply imprinted in Xu Yaping's mind. From then on, he had an "inexplicable liking" for the finless porpoise. Later, when Xu Yaping was checking information in the library, he learned that the Yangtze finless porpoise is a nationally protected animal and the only freshwater finless porpoise in the world. It is an important indicator of the health of the Yangtze River freshwater ecosystem. From then on, when he purchased fish for the hotel every morning, he never forgot to say to the fishermen: "Please don't hurt the finless porpoise (common name for finless porpoise)!" When he heard that a fisherman had saved the finless porpoise, he would run over and give it to the finless porpoise. The other person bows 90 degrees. Regarding the number of finless porpoises during that period, many old fishermen in Dongting Lake also unanimously used the term "thousands of horses galloping" to describe them, "There were so many at that time, one by one, and they could often be seen jumping out of the water." Fishermen on the side of Dongting Lake Zhang Xinben waved his hands in the air as he spoke, "We don't know what kind of fish this is or whether it tastes good, and we want to try one." But no one thought that more than 20 years later, the finless porpoise would become "critically endangered." species. At the end of October last year, the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a nearly 20-day preliminary inspection of Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake, two important habitats of finless porpoises, and found that the number of finless porpoises in Dongting Lake dropped sharply from more than 150 six years ago to about 90. But Xu Yaping disagreed with this result: "We patrol the lake every day, and there are only 55 finless porpoises left in Dongting Lake." No matter which number is more accurate, according to the standards of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red Book of Endangered Species, the Yangtze finless porpoise has already reached This has been Xu Yaping's biggest "heartache" in the past two years, and it is also the main reason why he devoted himself to the protection of finless porpoises and established the Finless Porpoise Protection Association. Finless porpoise dies due to humans. Why is the Yangtze River finless porpoise on the verge of extinction? Xu Yaping told reporters sadly that at present, the threat to the survival of finless porpoises mainly comes from humans. Wang Ding also pointed out that the finless porpoise has no natural enemies and human activities are the biggest threat to its survival. He Daming, who dropped out of school to fish in Dongting Lake when he was 9 years old, has lived on Dongting Lake for 35 years. He has witnessed the "progress" of Dongting Lake's fishery and how the finless porpoise is dying out step by step. In 1985, a fishing net array known as the "Ecstasy Array" appeared in Dongting Lake. In 1994, the phenomenon of electrofishing appeared. In 2005, net enclosures emerged on the lake. Such "new inventions" seriously threatened the survival of finless porpoises, fish and shrimps. . The water quality is getting worse and worse, and the fish are getting fewer and smaller. This is a common feeling among the 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 River finless porpoise population. At the same time, modern busy water traffic also threatens the safety of finless porpoises. The underwater motor sound of ships affects the accuracy of finless porpoise's ultrasonic positioning. Many finless porpoises mistake the motor sound waves for their own companions and are killed or injured by propellers.

Xu Yaping learned during his interview and investigation that busy shipping has made the living space of finless porpoises smaller and smaller. Even in the areas where Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake enter the Yangtze River, the high density of ships has interrupted the genetic exchange of the finless porpoise population. There are far more males than For females, the ratio of males to females is severely imbalanced. Increasingly serious and disorderly sand and gravel logging has increasingly adverse impacts on finless porpoises. Sand-carrying ships are rushing back and forth, seriously crowding the migratory channels of finless porpoises, and frantically mining sand. The hollowed-out riverbed leaves finless porpoises with no place to breed and no fixed place to live. Wei Baoyu, a WWF project officer, pointed out that water conservancy facilities built along the Yangtze River, including cement and stone revetments, have adverse effects on the echolocation system and reproduction of finless porpoises. On the other hand, they also destroy and reduce the fish’s habitat and breeding sites. . In addition, with the impact of global climate change, extreme climate events have a superimposed effect on the above-mentioned threats, becoming a new threat to the finless porpoise. Faced with the increasingly severe living conditions of the finless porpoise, Xu Yaping and a group of like-minded fishermen came up with the idea of ??quickly establishing a finless porpoise protection association to call on all sectors of society to participate. So they traveled to various counties, cities and departments to lobby for finless porpoise protection, calling on Yueyang party committees, people's congresses, governments, political consultative conferences, fishery administration, environmental protection departments and non-governmental organizations at all levels to increase publicity on finless porpoise protection and quickly raise public awareness of finless porpoise protection. . Their actions quickly received strong support from relevant departments. On January 8, 2012, the Yueyang Finless Porpoise Protection Association was officially established, marking an important step in the protection of the Yangtze River finless porpoise. In order to protect the finless porpoise, he repeatedly risked his life. After the establishment of the association, Xu Yaping's work focus also quietly changed. Now, the reporter station manager prefers to be seen as an environmental worker. Also from the day the association was established, Xu Yaping insisted on working 15 hours a day. "To protect the finless porpoise, the media comes first, and public opinion comes first! To protect the finless porpoise, it starts with me, and it starts with you!" Xu Yaping mentioned how to carry out substantive protection of the finless porpoise when the association was established. Therefore, when the association was established, Xu Yaping gave full play to his advantages and issued the "China Yangtze River Finless Porpoise Protection Declaration", establishing three major goals: first, to upgrade the finless porpoise to a national first-level protected animal as soon as possible; second, to promote the local area as soon as possible Establish the East Dongting Lake Finless Porpoise Nature Reserve; third, explore the implementation of ex-situ conservation of finless porpoises, and put forward the slogan of "putting dolphins first, saving dolphins from water and fire". Later, he also organized a volunteer propaganda team to tour lake areas, schools, villages and water fishing personnel in Xiangyin, Quyuan, Miluo, Yueyang County, Yueyang Lou District, Huarong, Junshan, Yunxi, Linxiang and other counties and cities to preach about finless porpoise. Protection; establish a finless porpoise protection observation station and a volunteer workstation, carry out year-round regular observation, investigation and rescue of injured finless porpoises and other activities to protect finless porpoises; regularly publish journals, conduct education on animal protection and environmental protection awareness, expose and condemn the cruelty of finless porpoises, and destroy Natural thoughts and behaviors; holding seminars on finless porpoise protection and current living conditions of finless porpoises, holding various training courses and holding various lectures, etc. Source: Environment