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Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest fish, declared extinct

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest fish, declared extinct

#71

What was wrong with the better original title "The Chinese paddlefish, one of world's largest fish, has gone extinct"

98% of the time someone changes the title of the article to which they are linking they make it worse.

Cooks, many, title

Re: Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest fish, declared extinct

#73
post #8

Serious question here - not starting a flamewar. Are there any real organizations in China with power that protect the ecosystem and animals there? From an outsider it seems like they just build whatever they want without any concern for the environment they live in which ultimately will do significant damage to their own human population after the environment collapses and can't support them.

So you are speaking about MEE:

http://www.mee.gov.cn/

Not sure why but they also have an English page:

http://english.mee.gov.cn/

It is one of the ministries under the State Council. Technically all Ministries are on the same Level so they enjoy equal power. In reality some ministries have more weights (e.g. NDRC apparently have more power than some of the smaller ones) and MEE has recently gained much more power since the elevation of President Xi. The following paragraph shows its power.

Quote in Chinese: 组建生态环境部。将环境保护部的职责,国家发展和改革委员会的应对气候变化和减排职责,国土资源部的监督防止地下水污染职责,水利部的编制水功能区划、排污口设置管理、流域水环境保护职责,农业部的监督指导农业面源污染治理职责,国家海洋局的海洋环境保护职责,国务院南水北调工程建设委员会办公室的南水北调工程项目区环境保护职责整合,组建生态环境部,作为国务院组成部门。生态环境部对外保留国家核安全局牌子。不再保留环境保护部。

Explanation: MEE took a lot of power from other ministries and departments:

0 - It originated from the Ministry of Environmental Protection

1 - The responsibility to tackle with climate change and reducing emmision (from NDRC)

2 - The responsibility to monitor underground water contaimnation (from Ministry of Land and Resources)

3 - A bunch of responsibilities regarding water pollution (from Ministry of Water Resources)

4 - The responsibility to guide argricultural pollution (from Ministry of Agriculture)

5 - The responsibility to protect ocean environment (from the State Oceanic Administration)

6 - The responsibility regarding environmental protection in South-to-North Water Diversion (from relevant officials)

Re: Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest fish, declared extinct

#74
The unbridled enthusiasm of man again pushes us deeper into this 6th mass extinction event, the Holocene extinction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction.

I still remember the Baiji https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baiji or the finless porpoise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow-ridged_finless_porpoise . Can we realistically ever taper down and live more simple minimalistic lives that strike a better balance with our ecosystem?

Moreover does anyone know why the Wikipedia pages do not show the Baiji or Paddlefish animals extinct? Under the EW or EX status?

Re: Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest fish, declared extinct

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The distinction you're applying seem to be arbitrary. What makes Chinese efforts nascent but American efforts (where species also continue to go extinct) developed? Most efforts to preserve animals come after the damage is done. That's why we maintain an endangered species list. I'm not going to argue that China is as committed to, or as successful at, the goal as say the US is, but "not as good" is very different fr…

> What makes Chinese efforts nascent but American efforts (where species also continue to go extinct) developed? Perhaps this isn't about nations, but about 1) how sad it is for such a unique species to be extinct, 2) a cautionary tale. Also, where I live (Indiana, USA) we have a native paddlefish species that was nearly fished to extinction by a ring of criminals that were killing them for their caviar. I wonder if…

> Also, where I live (Indiana, USA) we have a native paddlefish species that was nearly fished to extinction

how are they doing now? recovering?

Re: Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest fish, declared extinct

#77

What was wrong with the better original title "The Chinese paddlefish, one of world's largest fish, has gone extinct"

Nothing; that's what the title should be. The guidelines ask you to use the original title, and not try to summarize the article yourself in the submission title.

Re: Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest fish, declared extinct

#79

I recall visiting the Yangtze river by boat tour around 1997. This was before the dam was built and the place was beautiful. Imagine the grand canyon but it was covered with lush vegetation. We visited a center where there were models of the three gorges dam would soon to be built. On the tour they said we would be the last tourists to see the Yangtze as it stands, after the dam, many landmarks/settlements would be f…

FWIW, the dam in question, the Gezhouba Dam, was completed by 1988.

Re: Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest fish, declared extinct

#80
Its cousin, the American paddlefish, is still around, though it's vulnerable.

Among other similar reasons (overfishing, pollution), dams are related to its decline: "Series of dams on rivers such as those constructed on the Missouri River have impounded large populations of American paddlefish, and blocked their upstream migration to spawning shoals.[29]"

But it's not too late...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_paddlefish#Population...

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