China offers rewards to protect endangered porpoises

Locals in east China's Jiangxi Province who volunteer to rescue Yangtze finless porpoises, a rare freshwater mammal, will be rewarded with cash. Residents who report that Yangtze finless porpoises are injured or in dangerous conditions and help rescue them prior to the arrival of government workers will be rewarded with 300 yuan (48.8 U.S. dollars), the Poyang Lake Fisheries Bureau said on Thursday. Those who report clues, or the death of the endangered mammal, to the fisheries bureau are entitled to a 100-yuan reward, it said. Poyang Lake, in Jiangxi Province, is home to half of the species' population, estimated at only about 1,000. A 2013 report by the Ministry of Agriculture said the porpoise population has been decreasing 13.73 percent every year, twice the rate reported before 2006. Experts have warned the species could die out within a decade if the trend is not reversed, said the report.