River dolphins in China almost extinct-Xinhua

BEIJING, Dec 3: Scientists who spent nearly a month in a fruitless search for a Chinese river dolphin that is more endangered than the Giant Panda say there may be no more than 50 left alive, said the Xinhua news agency.

The Baiji, also known as the Yangtze dolphin, only lives in China's longest river but a 26-day, 1,700-km hunt by Chinese and foreign experts failed to find any of the mammals.

''We can't say the white-flag dolphin is extinct,'' Xinhua quoted Wang Ding, vice director of the hydrobiology institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as saying, yesterday.

''However, the population has dropped dramatically over the past decade ... If the situation cannot be improved, the white-flag dolphin may be extinct within 10 years,'' added Wang, who estimated the total population at no more than 50.

The last expedition in 1997 found only 13 of the dolphins, which have suffered from pollution, overfishing, shipping and dams and other water diversions along the river.

China has set up a conservation base for the dolphin in a lake in central Hubei province, but as no dolphins have been caught in recent years hopes of using a breeding programme to build up the population are fading.

REUTERS