FAILURE OF THE BAIJI RECOVERY PROGRAM: CONSERVATION LESSONS FOR OTHER FRESHWATER CETACEANS - Biology, Evolution and Conservation of River Dolphins Within South America and Asia - page 389

and bioaccumulation of industrial, agricultural and domestic pollutants, Indian river dolphins
( Platanista spp.) are known to be severely threatened by construction of irrigation barrages,
which have fragmented dolphin subpopulations and greatly decreased water flow in major
river channels, and also by deliberate killing for meat and oil (Mohan & Kunhi, 1996;
Bairagi, 1999; Smith et al., 2000). The specific actions advocated for the baiji recovery
program are therefore not necessarily the most appropriate solutions for preserving these
threatened species, and expert consideration is required to identify optimal conservation
strategies. However, given the ongoing declines of each of these species, it is imperative that
such strategies are identified in the immediate future, and that robust, dynamic efforts are
made to implement all recommended conservation actions.
Snyder & Snyder (2000) reflected that one searches in despair for signs that lessons
learned in conservation efforts with one species have been applied to conservation efforts for
any others. This applies to management, bureaucracy and implementation of recovery plans
as much as utilization of specific techniques (Clark, 1997). In addition to the particular
anthropogenic extinction drivers operating in the Yangtze River, the scientific and
conservation communities must acknowledge that it was the slow pace of decision-making,
widespread international conservatism about subjectively unfavorable conservation actions,
and a concomitant lack of adequate global support for such ultimately essential actions which
are responsible for the tragic extinction of the baiji. This is a mistake that we cannot permit to
happen again.

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