Visiting the Yangtze Finless Porpoises in Nanjing

November 2024

Have you ever imagined that it is possible to see the Yangtze Finless Porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis), which are categorized as Class One in the List of Wildlife under Special State Protection of China, at the busy city centre without getting on a boat? Take a stroll along the Gulou area of the Yangtze River in Nanjing and watch out for any activities in the water, if you see a dark grey round object rolling on the surface, it’s very likely that it is a finless porpoise! We’ve seen them getting quite close to the riverbank. Most of the time though, they were busy crossing the navigation channel. Their agility is really impressive. One good thing about landbased observation is that we can observe their natural behaviour without disturbing them.

Yangtze Finless Porpoise is the only freshwater porpoise in the world.  At this stage, they are still considered as a subspecies of the Narrow-ridged Finless Porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis) internationally. The other subspecies is East Asian Finless Porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis sunameri). As the Yangtze Finless Porpoises and the East Asian Finless Porpoises are genetically and reproductively isolated from each other, it is likely that there will be a split pretty soon.  In China, they are officially recognized as two separate species by the Government and scientists.  That means, all three finless porpoise species can be found in China.

With a number of conservation measures (including a 10-year fishing ban and ecological restoration) being put in place in the Yangtze River starting from January 2020, the population of Yangtze River Porpoises has been recovering gradually. Based on the latest statistics, there are a total of 1249 finless porpoises in the Yangtze River. The annual survey conducted in Nanjing reveals that there are around 65 finless porpoises in the Nanjing section.

Nanjing is the only city in China where the population of finless porpoises has remained stable within the urban section of the Yangtze. In 2014, the State set up the Nanjing Yangtze Finless Porpoise Provincial Natural Conservation Zone, with management stations set up to monitor real-time the speed of vessels passing through the area. With concerted efforts from the local government, NGO Nanjing Finless Porpoise and Aquatic Life Conservation Association as well as relevant parties, conservation strategies are devised for protecting the precious finless porpoises. The area of the Conservation Zone is 80.38 square kilometers as of January 2024, stretching from Xinsheng Island in Jiangning in the west to the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in the east.

Together they have created the first observation area dedicated to the Yangtze Finless Porpoises, the first of its kind in the country. The map of the Nanjing Finless Porpoise City Park can be found in the website of the Nanjing Finless Porpoise and Aquatic Life Conservation Association:

https://www.njyfpca.org/page24?_l=en

When we visited Nanjing in November 2024 and observed for 4.5 days, we'd been to different obervation points along the river. Our most favourite spots are Zhongshan Pier and the Yangtze Smile Station.

Zhongshan Pier

Observation platform at the Yangtze Smile Station

Exhibition Galleries showcasing the ecology of the Yangtze:

Exhibition Gallery on Finless Porpoise Conservation

Exhibition Gallery on Aquatic Life of the Yangtze

Souvenirs featuring the Finless Porpoises or Yangtze ecology can be found here:

Finless Porpoise Bookstore

The Yangtze Smile Station

Multi-colour stamps are available for free in both places. Feel free to bring your own notebook or buy one from them to chop the stamps.

Scenery of the Yangtze (Nanjing section):

Birds:

Reference:

Nanjing Finless Porpoise and Aquatic Life Conservation Association:

https://www.njyfpca.org

Transportation:

Direct flights from Hong Kong to Nanjing are operated by China Eastern Airline, Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airline.  The journey takes around two hours.

From the airport to town centre, you can arrange transfer via DiDi Travel of AliPay China.

Indeed, there are a couple of places along the Yangtze that Finless Porpoises can be observed, including Yichang, Wuhan, Zhenjiang, etc. Here's the Yangtze Finless Porpoise map:

(Source:
https://epaper.hubeidaily.net/pad/content/202410/31/content_293459.html)

I would love to follow this map and visit those places to see the Finless Porpoises in the future.