Finless porpoise bay, building a harbor of love between man and nature

When the "angel" fell in love with Nantong, the love between man and nature came into being again: meet you, protect you, know you and cherish you!

In recent years, guided by the supreme leader’s ecological civilization thought, our city has actively practiced the strategy of protecting the Yangtze River, and the ecological changes in Nantong section of the Yangtze River can be felt everywhere and seen by everyone. Especially in the past two years, the frequent visits of the "smiling angel" Yangtze finless porpoise have added agility to the Wushan Riverside Area and added fun to the citizens. Since we haven’t seen random encounters for many years, the finless porpoise has gradually become a frequent visitor in the eyes of Nantong citizens and a hot word in their mouths. It has also become a symbol of urban ecological beauty and livable joy.

In order to better meet the people’s needs for a better life, continue to polish Nantong’s ecological business card and create a new bright spot of "ecology+tourism", on November 12, the first new urban landmark with the theme of finless porpoise in our city, finless porpoise Bay, came into being. The launch of this project marks a new stage and a new chapter in the protection of finless porpoises in our city.

Arouse resonance and cohesion

The establishment of finless porpoise bay is an ardent expectation from bottom to top, and it is also a timely action from top to bottom.

The Yangtze finless porpoise is a first-class wild protected animal in China, and it is a unique "flagship" species in the Yangtze River, which plays an important role in reflecting the ecological status of the Yangtze River. Since the beginning of this year, Nantong Newspaper Media Group has launched a series of media reports on "finless porpoise falls in love with Nantong" around the theme of "building a harmonious coexistence between man and nature", which has aroused readers’ attention and heated discussion. In the interview, many citizens suggested that the finless porpoise should be turned into a Nantong cultural tourism IP and a new business card for the city. Based on this, journalists made great efforts in investigation and research, conducted extensive exchanges with relevant experts, scholars, professionals and volunteers for finless porpoise observation, and in mid-July wrote the internal reference "Citizens look forward to a" finless porpoise bay "in Nantong —— Enlightenment and suggestions from the investigation report on finless porpoise theme of Nantong Newspaper Group".

"Nantong people’s love and love for finless porpoises has a long history, reflecting the expectation of ecological change in Nantong section of the Yangtze River and the yearning for a better life." Zhang Jun, one of the authors and deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Nantong Newspaper Media Group, introduced that the internal reference closely followed the hot topics from the topic selection to the content, accurately grasped the "time, degree and efficiency", summarized and refined the necessity and feasibility of building a named Nantong "finless porpoise bay" from four aspects, and put forward three high-quality suggestions on how to promote this work. After the internal reference was submitted, it attracted attention: Wu Xinming, secretary of the municipal party Committee, and Shen Lei, deputy secretary of the municipal party Committee, immediately approved it to the relevant competent leaders and departments for reading.

"Seeing the finless porpoise is like seeing your old friend!" Jiang Jianhua, a reporter from Nantong Newspaper Media Group, has been tracking and shooting the finless porpoise for a long time. Every time he captures the leaping picture of the finless porpoise with his lens, his heart is always full of joy. "The frequent appearance of finless porpoises should be related to the ecological environment of this water area. Large shoals and relatively gentle currents provide a good living environment for fish and also provide favorable conditions for finless porpoises to hunt. " Jiang Jianhua once captured the pregnant finless porpoise with a lens. "The ecological environment here continues to improve, and it is entirely possible to observe and record the finless porpoise in the future!"

The people want something, I want something, the people want something, and I do something. In mid-August, the municipal government and relevant departments held two promotion meetings on the theme of "finless porpoise bay". On August 25th, the municipal government made it clear through a special meeting that Nantong finless porpoise bay should be built from two aspects: showing the achievements of Yangtze River protection and building Nantong cultural tourism IP, without adding new buildings or drawing new protection red lines. Since then, it has entered the substantive promotion stage.

According to the requirements of the municipal party committee and the municipal government, in less than three months, relevant departments are in full swing and working together. The Municipal Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting and Tourism has formulated a project planning case around creating a new landmark of "Nantong Fun". "According to the plan, we do a good job in site selection. After several comparisons, we choose to set up punch points in the Seven Star Plank Road area." Lu Jianhua, deputy director of the Langshan Office, told the reporter that the hot spots for finless porpoises are Langshan Riverside Park, Longzhaoyan and Fanyin Square. From December 2019 to October 2023, finless porpoises were observed for 135 times and 372 times. The Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment is responsible for the observation and appreciation, considering the construction of the finless porpoise intelligent monitoring system as a whole, and striving to achieve the purpose of facilitating citizens to observe the finless porpoise monitoring data and watch the finless porpoise moving images in real time.

Eco-tourism goes hand in hand

City Wenguang Tourism Bureau plans the finless porpoise bay project, highlights its characteristic cultural business card of "ecological messenger" and "smiling angel", and combines several spatial nodes in Binjiang area to create Nantong Yangtze River ecological protection section with finless porpoise culture as the core. After completion, it will also be a finless porpoise culture popular science research and tourism base.

It is understood that the finless porpoise bay project includes four spatial nodes, and the connotations are integrated and interconnected. It not only has a concrete carrier, but also extends the cultural value. The first place is called "The Edge of the finless porpoise". At the entrance of the Sailing Square in Binjiang Park, the route of the finless porpoise and the important cities it passes through are drawn, which means "the Yangtze River protects a chess game". The second node, "Meet the finless porpoises", designs a series of sculpture landscapes on the west side of the square to simulate various movements of finless porpoises, such as coming out of the water, prancing, turning over and entering the water, and to show the cheerful scene of finless porpoises living in groups. The third place is "evolution of finless porpoise", which integrates the functions of popular science research experience, cultural and creative sales, photography display, theme rest and non-legacy display to build a theme popular science research and recreation base. The fourth node "The finless porpoise stays" is located in the seven-star plank road area of Binjiang, where the finless porpoise happy splashing sculpture is set up to create the punching point of finless porpoise culture IP.

In order to speed up the construction of finless porpoise bay, the Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment integrated online monitoring of finless porpoise acoustic equipment, unmanned aerial vehicle cruise, manual visual survey and other means to further strengthen the monitoring of finless porpoise. "Special monitoring will help to deeply understand the status of finless porpoise population in Nantong section of the Yangtze River and study the impact of Yangtze River protection on finless porpoise population, which is conducive to better protection work." According to the ecological department, since the installation and debugging of two sets of online acoustic monitoring equipment for finless porpoises at the end of October, signs of finless porpoises have been monitored many times in Fanyin Square.

"Monitoring shows that finless porpoises often appear in the early hours of the night." Tang Yong, director of the Natural Ecological Protection Department of the Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, told the reporter that from 10:30 am to 11: 00 am on November 9,:30. The monitoring system recorded the appearance of finless porpoises in Fanyin Square in real time. The visibility was good at this time, and there were at least 4 finless porpoises by visual inspection on site. In the next step, we will continue to use the method of "visual inspection+real-time intelligent monitoring" to carry out joint monitoring of the Yangtze finless porpoise in a normal way, and form special investigation results to provide real-time data support for the "finless porpoise bay".

Protecting nature has far-reaching significance

"The construction of the finless porpoise bay project is not only the development of new tourist attractions, but also an important project for the whole people to share the achievements of the Yangtze River protection and promote ecological protection." Mao Weifeng, Party Secretary and Director of the Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism, said that the project will make the achievements of the Yangtze River Protection a new hot spot and a new business card for cultural tourism in our city, so that citizens can better understand the finless porpoise culture while enjoying the riverside scenery and stimulate citizens’ sense of identity and participation in the Yangtze River Protection.

Inspired by the finless porpoise Bay, Zhang Hua, Party Secretary and Chairman of the Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles, suggested strengthening the research and interpretation of the Yangtze River culture, creating and producing a number of literary works with finless porpoise themes, and enhancing Nantong’s urban influence and reputation. In the future, artists will have much to do in telling the story of the Yangtze River in the new era.

"finless porpoises blow waves and return to the wind at night." On the evening of the 11th, the cold wind blew, and engineers and finless porpoises patrolmen from Nantong Environmental Monitoring Center took a cruise on an observation boat. Hearing the news of the establishment of finless porpoise bay, the reputation is quite exciting, and it is considered as a new starting point for Nantong to implement finless porpoise protection. He introduced that the finless porpoise is the flagship species of the Yangtze River aquatic ecosystem health. After nearly five years of continuous monitoring, finless porpoises are distributed in the whole basin of Nantong section of the Yangtze River, and Wushan section is the hottest area, with a maximum of 12 heads recorded at a time. It is the best business card for Nantong’s ecological environment to enjoy the warm picture of finless porpoises’ family adding their mouths and playing with the whole family in the urban riverside.

According to Chen Fengyan, an associate professor at the Party School of the Municipal Party Committee, the establishment of the finless porpoise Bay is a vivid portrayal of the harmonious coexistence between man and nature and a brand-new achievement in implementing the great protection of the Yangtze River. She said that man and nature are a symbiotic relationship. Respecting nature, adapting to nature and protecting nature will be rewarded by nature. Under the guidance of the concept of "great protection and no great development" and the implementation of the ten-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, the Nantong section of the Yangtze River reappears the gratifying scene of clean water and green shores and finless porpoises cruising, which embodies the achievements of water ecological protection in the Yangtze River. The establishment of finless porpoise Bay is to practice the requirement of "putting the restoration of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River in an overwhelming position" and show Nantong’s responsibility for protecting the "last stick" of the Yangtze River.

Daily reporter Zhu Beining Yang Zhenxiao