Species/Yangtze finless porpoise
Yangtze finless porpoise
Neophocaena asiaeorientalis
CRCritically Endangered
- Range
- Yangtze River, China
- Population
- Around 1,200 after a 2022 rebound from ~1,000
- Trend
- increasing
- Last assessed
- 2013
The only porpoise in a river. Its cousin, the baiji, is already gone. A 2022 census showed the first increase in decades after fishing bans.
Rivers can be reversed — slowly — if a government actually stops the boats.
Threats
- Shipping
- Sand mining
- Pollution
- Bycatch
What you can do
- Follow the Yangtze fishing-ban results
A rare large-river experiment in recovery.