China News Service, Nanchang, August 23 (Wu Pengquan Xu Mengwen) The reporter learned from a press conference held by Jiangxi officials on the 23rd that the water quality of Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, has steadily improved, and the number of finless porpoises in Poyang Lake waters has increased significantly.
Poyang Lake, located in the northern part of Jiangxi Province and on the southern bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, is the largest freshwater lake in China. It gathers many rare and endangered species in the world, including the Yangtze finless porpoise, and is an important conservation area for biodiversity conservation.
Total phosphorus is the main pollutant in the water quality of Poyang Lake.
Dong Liangyun, director of the Water Ecological Environment Division of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, said that the total phosphorus concentration in the Poyang Lake area has dropped from the highest 0.082mg/L in recent years in 2018 to 0.058mg/L in 2020, and further dropped to 0.057mg/L in the first half of this year. It was the lowest in the same period in recent years, with a year-on-year decrease of 12.3%.
The picture shows 3-4 finless porpoises swimming in the water, sometimes playing with the waves, and sometimes swimming with their cubs.
(Data map) Photo by Liu Zhankun
The water quality of the main stream of the Gan River has also achieved breakthroughs.
The data shows that the proportion of excellent water quality in the main section of the Ganjiang River has increased from 79.2% in 2012 to 100% in 2021, and in 2021, all 33 sections of the main section of the Ganjiang River have reached Class II for the first time, and continued to maintain stable in the first half of this year.
In addition to improving the quality of the water environment, Jiangxi has also further promoted the protection and restoration of water ecology.
"Earth fish, large-scale saury, large-sized carmine, pure-bred wild 'Jiangxi giant salamander' populations that have not been seen for many years have appeared in the Jiangxi section of the Yangtze River and the waters of Poyang Lake." Dong Liangyun said.
The Yangtze finless porpoise is the only existing large cetacean in the Yangtze River, and it is listed as a critically endangered species in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Dong Liangyun said that the number of finless porpoises in the waters of Poyang Lake has increased from 457 in 2017 to more than 700 in 2021. It is the first time in more than 40 years that finless porpoises have reappeared in the waters of Nanchang Yangzizhou.
According to Xu Yanbin, director of the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, in Jiangxi now, blue sky and white clouds are always present, stars twinkling are common, clear waters and green banks are always present, and fish are always present on shallow bottoms. People and nature coexist in harmony here.
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