After the extinction of 150 million years of White 鲟 ...

In the past few days, I have been in danger to remember how many media interviews have been accepted, and the themes have all surrounded Bai Yan. Dangerous Wei has been active in the field of Baiyu's research for 38 years. To this day, he is still unwilling to propagate the conclusion of "White 鲟 completely extinct". But in the face of reporters, he chose to repeat the answers about Bai Yan again and again.

From Tanggula Mountain to Shanghai to enter Haikou, the Yangtze River stretches for more than 6,300 kilometers. It is conservatively estimated that there are 4,300 aquatic creatures and more than 180 kinds of Yangtze River in the basin. Wait for 12 types of national key protection of aquatic creatures.

On July 21, the World Nature Conservation Alliance ("IUCN") released the global red catalog update report, announcing the extinction of the white crickets, the extinction of the Yangtze River, and the extinction of naked abdomen. The red list also improved the protection level of 7 other catfish.

Many people have never seen Bai Yan, and they heard that it is forever. In an interview with the "China Report" reporter, he was in danger of being calm. He reached a climax to the public commemorating Bai Yan and realized that the Yangtze River protection should only feel a little comforting, but there was also concerns about the words: the heat passed in the past. If everything returns to the origin or backward, other aquatic creatures in the Yangtze River may repeat the same mistakes.

An extinction

Bai Yan, who has survived for 150 million years, was adjacent to dinosaurs, and some unique temperament of the ancient creatures on the body -the kiss part is long and raised forward, the swim is fast, the body size is large, the general weight is 200 to 300 kilograms The longest can exceed 7 meters, known as "the king of freshwater fish in China".

But even the professionals who studied Bai Yan, I have only seen a few living bodies. "I often receive a phone call saying that there is another dead white cymbal near the Jiangbian Wharf, and then go to the on -site length and dissect the corpse ..." After graduating from college in 1984, he was assigned to the Yangtze River Aquatic Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Aquatic Sciences. Many times do this. Later, even Bai Yan's body was difficult to see.

△ In 1993, the white puppet adult discovered by the Yichang River section of the Yangtze River. (Picture source network)

△ In 2003, Nanxi District, Yibin City, Sichuan Province, and researchers were rescued by the arrested Bai Yan. (Photo confession in the respondent)

In January 2003, an injured Baiya hit a big network of fishermen in Nanxi County, Yibin City. In many occasions, the dangerous of the Baiji, which was the last time he took a look with Bai Yan. "I told the fishermen on the phone that we were fully rescued. It took two days and two nights to rush to the scene. The inspection found that the white cricket was 3.2 meters long, 150 kg of weight, and female. All are used, and finally rescued it. "

Considering that a white cricket was rescued in Nanjing two months ago, it was only raised for 29 days because of the limited conditions. "I turned my belly and died." To find the spawning field, you may find more white 鲟. After successfully tracking for more than a day, unexpectedly, on the evening of the 29th year, the tracked boat touched the reefs in the Jianglong section of Jiulong Beach, Nanxi County. When the ship was repaired, the radio signal contained in Baiyu had completely disappeared.

During the more than ten years after the loss of the arms, the danger of the world was looking forward to the surprise every day, and the technical reserves did not fall: the team saved Bai Yan's topic for three issues, which lasted for eight or nine years. Nuclear development technology, reproductive cell transplantation technology. He often meditated that if the rescue of that year, it would undoubtedly be successful, such as extraction of white -cymbals' cell data to help restore the population.

Unfortunately, from 2006 to 2013, the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences conducted eight large -scale water acoustic detection in the original white ravioli in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and its neighboring river section -trial fishing survey. In 2017, the original. The Ministry of Agriculture organized more than 20 units to conduct a five -year field survey, and no white traces were found.

Dangerous is a member of the IUCN catfish expert group. He explained that IUCN announced a species "extinction" based on detailed investigations. The time span of the survey is basically the same as the life cycle of the species. If there is no individual in the known habitat range, there is no living body under artificial breeding conditions, and the species can basically be determined that the species is "extinct".

Based on the IUCN assessment model, the critical team of the Wei team has concluded in the paper that Bai Yan in 1993 or "functional extinction", that is, the number of natural population is so small that it cannot be reproduced, and the extinction may occur between 2005 and 2010.

But reasonable, he still hopes that the announcement of this news can be "waiting for another." The global red catalog update report that was originally announced in 2020 was put on hold for two years due to the epidemic. On July 21 this year, the "White 鲟 extinction" finally concluded.

The imbalance of "man and nature"

As a top predator in the Yangtze River, Bai Yan does not have natural enemies and is a species of ecological conditions in the basin. However, they are disturbed by human activities.

According to the data, in 1954, the Yangtze River dried fish fishing volume was as many as 430,000 tons. Dangerous to reporters recalled that after the 1970s, fishermen's fishing mesh and "unbelievable" fishing fishing fishing was already common. A fishing boat had more than 100 pounds of fish in the morning. By the 1990s, it could only be tens of pounds a day; after 2000, it dropped to 10 pounds and 8 pounds ... The sharp decrease in fish resources caused the loss of food sources, which became the main reason for the extinction of white crickets.

Large dams have a catastrophic impact. Dangerous explained that the travelers of catfish are written in genes -spawning in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, young catfish flowing down to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River with rich bait resources, and the estuary of the lake. Back to the upstream eggs. "After the interception of Gezhouba in 1981, the Baiyou tour route was cut off, and the fish groups and spawning fields were not interacting with each other. It will directly accidentally hurt the White 道, and projects such as waterway rectification, reef, and shores are also squeezed into the living space. These reasons were written into the paper that year, which became the support of judging Bai Yan's extinction.

In addition to Bai Yan, in 1989, the Yangtze River aquatic creatures, which were listed as a key national -level protection, include White Rippy, Zhonghua Cycles, and Yangtze River. After the 2021 list was updated, the Yangtze River porpoise joined as a new member. At present, in the IUCN red species list, the Yangtze River 鲟 is "extinct in the wild", and the porpoons of the White Cycles, Chinese Cycles, and the Yangtze River Porpoch "extremely endangered". From the perspective of the danger, the situation in the Chinese and Yangtze River is more severe, and "non -star species" such as catfish are not optimistic. If the situation is allowed to develop, the tragedy of the extinction of Bai Yan may not be the last.

On July 14, 2002, at the same time as the last white crickets were almost in danger, Wang Ding, a researcher at the Institute of Aquatic Biological Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, experienced a farewell -the only successful white -cricket dolphin "Qi Qi" in the world due to age Excessive and fell. To this day, "Qi Qi" is still the last white dolphin that humans have seen -about 2 years old when they were rescued, and Wang Ding and colleagues took care of 22 years and 185 days.

White 鱀 dolphin is produced in China and is called "giant panda in the water". There were about 400 heads in the Yangtze River in the early 1980s. Wang Ding recalled the reporter of "China Report" that in order to make artificial insurance for Baiyou dolphin, from November to December 2006, he led more than 60 domestic and foreign scientists to conduct a 39 -day and 3400 -kilometer inspection in the Yangtze River. The number of white dolphins is "0". In his opinion, this does not mean that a white tipper is gone, but it cannot bring comfort — after losing the population recovery function, the extinction of the white dolphin is only a matter of time.

△ Wang Ding rescue the Yangtzepin. (Photo confession in the respondent)

In 1996, the Institute of Aquatic Biological Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences began to raise the close relatives of the white -cricket dolphin -the Yangtze River Porpoch, and Wang Ding's research objects also shifted. The situation is also severe. "In 2006, we discovered 1,800 heads, and in 2012 decreased to 1040 heads. As the only mammal in the Yangtze River at present, there are 1012 porpoons.

Wang Ding said that the natural life of porpoons is mainly in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The construction of Gezhou dam and the Three Gorges Dam will not have a direct impact. More threats come from other human activities, indiscriminate fishing, shipping, wading project construction, water pollution, etc., and linkage to destroy the porpoons' food resources and habitats.

The relay protection of the Yangtze River species

Academician Cao Wenxuan of the Institute of Aquatic Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is the advocate of the "Ten Years of Fishing in the Yangtze River". Dangerous remembers very clearly. From 2011 to 2014, he and his colleagues investigated the fishermen along the Yangtze River to "how much fish can catch", "What kind of fish to catch", "What about income" ... "From Yichang to the Yangtze River entrance, we There are only 99 professional fishermen collected by the collection of fishing. The conclusion is that or the fisherman's structure is unable to collect or the fisherman's structure.

In 2017, the former Ministry of Rural Affairs launched a survey of the Yangtze River Fishery Resources and Environment to provide a more scientific basis for whether to rest. "From the beginning of the Langhe River, within the entire range of the Jinsha River, the Three Gorges Reservoir area, the Poyang Lake, the Dongting Lake, and the Yangtze River, we conducted a census of 20 kilometers × 20 kilometers." In 2020, it was found that one -third of the more than 400 fish species in the Yangtze River were not found in the survey for 4 consecutive years.

On New Year's Day in 2021, the "ten years for fishing" in the Yangtze River started. Both Wang Ding and the crisis of Wei Shi pointed out the significance of this policy. "Forbidden fishing, plus other tasks of the Yangtze River protection, such as messy dock renovation, river sand mining management, shore line repair, etc., the Yangtze ecology is developing." Take the Yangtze River porpoise The number of numbers from 2012 to 2017 has not decreased significantly, and the news of the "Yangtze River Dolphin Reappears" has also appeared frequently in recent years.

But Wang Ding is more cautious about this. "One may be that there are more people who are paying attention to porpoons now, and there are naturally more people who have taken the photographed. The other may be that the quantity has indeed risen. He is closely paying close attention to the fourth -wide scientific investigation of this year. This is also the first inspection after the Yangtze River forbidden fishing. Wang Ding expects the number of porpoons to bring surprises.

In fact, the "ten -year fishing forbidden fishing" in the Yangtze River cannot take into account all fish. Dangerous and Wang Ding said that the Yangtze River is mainly fish. It usually takes 3 or 4 years in sexual maturity. In 10 years, most fish can breed for three generations. Fish resources are expected to naturally grow to a certain level, and even return to the historical average level. Essence For example, if the male fish, the male fish can be mature at least 9 years, and the females need 14 to 16 years. The period of banning fishing is not enough to reproduce; the peculiargians of the Yangtze River generally take 5 years, and even more than humans during pregnancy. A baby. In this way, fishing for fish with long life cycle is not obvious. However, the danger also said that after the fisheries period stop, the probability of caught and fishing will not be reproduced. Nature reserve and aquatic seed resources reserve are actually permanent fishing. At present, 332 such protected areas have the length of such protected areas. The area also accounts for about 25%of the dry flow of the Yangtze River.

△ Scientific researchers will give the Chinese 鲟 鲟, the picture shows the Chinese tadpole marked by satellite. (Picture Yuan Xinhuanet)

On other protective fronts, Yangtze River, Chinese 鲟, and Yangtze River porpoons are much lucky than Bai Yan. Dangerous pointed out that there are currently 28 artificial breeding venues in Hubei, and there are currently 28 artificial breeding venues in China. For more than 30 years, more than 7 million flows can be released. It can basically ensure that the old roads that China will not take the extinction of whiteness.

However, the problem also exists. Except for the pealey period and reproduction period, 90%of the time of China live in the ocean. "The current artificial breeding does not have the conditions for seawater breeding, and the problem of tissue degradation and high breeding costs in freshwater domestication." Dangerous Wei Zheng studied the "land -sea -land" relay planning plan, extended the protection area from the Yangtze River to offshore, and artificially assisted China to complete the "freshwater -seawater -freshwater" travel process.

In the protection of the Yangtze Riverproof, one of the most important means of Wang Ding is to relocate to protect the ground, that is, choose the Hubei Swan Island, Hubei Hewang Temple/Hunan Integration, Anhui Xijiang and other places to allow their normal life and natural reproduction. "Now the group has been established, with a total of more than 160 types of relocation, and 15 or six Yangtzepin porpoons is born every year." Wang Ding believes that this has given the Yangtze River porpoise a insurance.

The old road of the Yangtze River is not a pure land. "In the past, the old road of the Yangtze River of Swan continent naturally passed through the river. Later, due to flood control and other needs, the connection with the dry flow of the Yangtze River was cut off. Only a small gate was adjusted and controlled. Rich nutrition. "Wang Ding introduced that government departments and protected areas have taken measures, such as building a water pump station to introduce the water quality of the Yangtze River to improve water quality.

The ultimate goal of relocation protection is to let the dolphin return to the Yangtze River in natural habitat. Wang Ding admits that it is difficult to expect the Yangtze River to return to the natural state, but at least it can be developed while protecting it, so that it can keep it as a healthy natural flowing river as much as possible.

Wang Ding pointed out that it can still do something. For example, after the operation of the Three Gorges Dam, the flood control capacity of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River has been greatly improved. Under the circumstances of ensuring flood prevention, the sub -embankment that was built out of flood prevention in the past can be demolished and restored a part of Natural river beach, improve the survival conditions of the Yangtze River water creatures.

Written: "China News" reporter Chen Ke

Responsible: Xu Hao

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