Tri-city alliance launched to protect Xiamen's dolphins

The upgraded mechanism also aims to further raise public awareness, including educating citizens on what to do and how to call for help if they encounter a stranded dolphin.

In August 2024, people from both Xiamen and Quanzhou jointly handled the emergency rescue of Le Bao, a 4-year-old female dolphin that swam out of Xiamen and became stranded on a beach in Quanzhou's waters.

Local residents reported the stranding, triggering a rapid emergency chain that brought experts from the dolphin reserve in Xiamen and the Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, based in Xiamen, to the scene for a joint medical response.

Following more than 40 days of intensive care at a nearby aquatic rescue station, Le Bao fully recovered and was successfully released back into her home environment in Xiamen's waters in September 2024. She was later named Le Bao after the facility, a name that also carried the rescuers' wishes for her to live a joyful life in the future.

"Le Bao's survival was a miracle made possible by an unbroken chain of rapid actions across two cities," Xu said. "If any single link had failed, this successful release would not have been possible."

The dolphin population's stable presence also stems from Xiamen's long-term ecological initiatives, including a complete clearance of marine aquaculture facilities to restore the coastal ecosystem to its primitive state, she said.

The city even re-engineered a tunnel project from an original above-water bridge design into an underground tunnel, heavily increasing capital investments solely to preserve the dolphins' habitats, she added.

"As a flagship barometer of our marine ecosystem, their presence represents Xiamen's outstanding achievements in biodiversity conservation," Xu said.