A finless porpoise swims in the Yangtze River in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province, May 11, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)  

China's first intelligent monitoring platform for the Yangtze finless porpoise and Chinese white dolphin has recently been put into operation.

Developed by researchers from the Institute of Hydrobiology affiliated with Chinese Academy of Sciences, it was the first real-time acoustic and video intelligent monitoring platform for aquatic mammals covering inland rivers and offshore waters.

The system can monitor aquatic mammals for 24 hours without stopping through the use of acoustic and video intelligent monitoring devices. Since those aquatic mammals spend 95 percent of time in waters, they normally cannot be monitored using traditional equipment, Wang Kexiong, a research fellow from the Institute of Hydrobiology told Jiupai News.

The Yangtze finless porpoise and the Chinese white dolphin are important indicator species of eco-environmental quality and biodiversity in the Yangtze River basin and the South China Sea coastal waters, Wang said.

Now more than 40 monitoring sites of the system have been set up in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake, and in the Pearl River estuary where the two aquatic mammals live, the news report said.

The Yangtze finless porpoise and the Chinese white dolphin, both rare aquatic mammals, are under the first-class state wildlife protection.