Endangered porpoises decrease sharply in China's Yangtze

WUHAN, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have found a sharply shrinking population of endangered finless porpoises in the country's longest river in an ongoing survey.

As of Wednesday, the scientific survey team has found about 856 finless porpoises in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, said Wang Ding, the team leader.

The team attributed the decrease mainly to the busy shipping traffic in the Yangtze.

It is the most comprehensive survey since 2006, when research found the population of finless porpoises stood at to 1,800 in the Yangtze and two lakes linked to the waterway.

On the Yichang-Wuhan river section in the middle reaches of the Yangtze, the team has found only 39 finless porpoises, a decrease of about two-thirds from the figure in 2006, said Wang Kexiong, deputy director with the team.

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