‘UP! But mostly down’
Mixed media on reclaimed Plywood
Yangtze Finless Porpoise. Part of the ‘10-40’ collection
79cm x 79cm (“31” x “31”)
Finless porpoises live in the Yangtze River in China. Unfortunately, they are vulnerable to fishing; even though they are not directly targeted by fishermen, large numbers of the species die when they become accidentally entangled in fishing gear. The waters they live in are also constantly busy with fishermen and people using the waterways to move around, so they get injured and killed by boats and ships. There are between 1,000 and 1,800 finless porpoises left in the Yangtze. The annual decline rate of 13% means these animals are expected to become extinct within 10 years if there are no effective conservation actions in place.

