The white-fin dolphin, a national treasure unique to the Yangtze River in China, has lived in the southern water systems of China for more than 20 million years and is known as a "living fossil". Once upon a time, whenever the weather was about to change and the air pressure dropped, the white-fin dolphins would leap out of the water to breathe. Their beautiful silhouettes reminded fishermen on the river that a storm was coming. The fishermen gratefully and reverently regarded it as a protective deity, and many legends were left behind, earning it the nickname of "Goddess of the Yangtze River".
However, in recent years, the number of white-fin dolphins has sharply declined. In the early 1980s, there were 400 of them, in 1990 there were 200, and by 1995 there were less than 100. In 1997, this number dropped to 13, and by 1999 there were only 5 left! In 2002, a live white-fin dolphin was filmed - this turned out to be the last real record of wild white-fin dolphins. In July 2002, the only captive-bred white-fin dolphin, "Qiqi", died of illness, and the white-fin dolphins disappeared from people's sight.
The white-fin dolphins have come to an end in just a few decades, and humans bear an unshirkable responsibility. Overfishing has reduced the number of fish in the Yangtze River, reducing the food supply for white-fin dolphins and further reducing their already low reproductive rate. Illegal fishing methods such as dynamite, electric shocks, rolling hooks, poisoning, and mind-controlling arrays have also caused continuous injuries to white-fin dolphins: in the 1970s and 1980s, at least half of the white-fin dolphins died from rolling hooks and dynamite fishing, with 6 white-fin dolphins killed by dynamite fishing between 1978 and 1985; in the 1990s, 40% of white-fin dolphins died from electric fishing, and in March 1990, a dead female adult white-fin dolphin was found with 36 rolling hooks wrapped around her body!
The dense shipping traffic on the Yangtze River also interferes with the echolocation of white-fin dolphins, causing them to strand repeatedly; while rotating propellers are like death traps, with 6% of dead white-fin dolphins killed by propellers and as high as 32% in the downstream area. In addition, water pollution is also an important factor. The construction of large and small dams has blocked the activities of fish and white-fin dolphins. Some construction units cleared waterways in a barbaric and crude manner, such as the blasting and clearing operation carried out by a department in Yanwo Town, Honghu City, Hubei Province, which killed a small group of four white-fin dolphins, including two pregnant females, leaving people heartbroken!
In 2006, scholars from six countries conducted a large-scale survey for 38 days, but sadly, they found nothing. In 2007, six scientists from six countries published an article titled "Is This the First Extinction of Whales Caused by Human Activities?" and argued that the white-fin dolphin might have become extinct; The Independent of the UK reported on this event with the headline "The Soul of China Has Been Partially Lost". Although some people believe that this claim is premature, there is no denying the fact that even if the white-fin dolphins are still surviving in the Yangtze River basin, their numbers have already fallen to a level insufficient to maintain the survival of the species, and extinction is inevitable. Aquatic animal expert Wang Ding said: "The 'search for white-fin dolphins' is a tragic process. We can't be sure that we will eventually achieve our goal, and our hope is so small that we don't even know what else we can do; however, we still have to create hope, take action, and do our best."