Following the 1992 Conference of the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine (IAAAM) in Hong Kong, the author was invited by Chinese scientists to visit and survey the two facilities designed for propagation of the critically endangered baiji. Both facilities incorporate isolated sections of the Yangtze River as semi-natural preserves and soon to be completed captive/transition facilities near the river. In Wuhan, at the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is located the Department of River Dolphin Research. That Department includes: a recently completed aquarium and research center, in which Qi Qi lives, the only baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) currently in captivity; the Tian-E-Zhou Semi-Natural Oxbow section of the Yangtze, isolated from the Yangtze and holding five finless porpoises (Neophocoena phocoenoides); and the Natural Reserve in the Xin-Luoa section of the Yangtze River. Qi Qi is being trained for semen collection, and the finless porpoises are being used as models to test the feasibility of the area for Baiji.

The Tongling Baiji Semi-Natural Reserve includes a smaller isolated section of the Yangtze, and a soon to be completed aquarium and research center. It is maintained through cooperation of the municipality of Tongling and Nanjing Normal University. Three finless porpoise are housed in the completed portion of the aquarium.

Based on findings of the survey ocean Park, Hong Kong, is sponsoring a cooperative program of husbandry and preventive medicine with the staff of each facility. Additionally, the Captive Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG) of the Species Survival Commission of IUCN-The World Conservation Union, will conduct a population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA) Workshop in China, June, 1993. Sea World will primarily fund that effort with cooperation of the IAAAM.

The most recent censuses have indicated the population of baiji continues to decline and the species is critically in danger of extinction. The PHVA Workshop will be an attempt to look at the effects of an array of variables on the survivability of a population and is an attempt to assess these variables for a given population, with the overall objective of preventing extinction and providing for recovery of the species in the wild.