CALLS TO PROTECT FINLESS PORPOISE

[Anchor Lead]

Hundreds of finless porpoises, which are an endangered species are dying annually. Now, it is assumed that most of them are killed by fishing equipment. There are calls for measures to find out the exact cause of the animals' death and protect the species.

[Pkg]

A friendly face with a shy smile. The finless porpoise. Also known as "smiling dolphin." An internationally protected endangered species living in the West and South seas. The population of the finless porpoise in Korea has dwindled by more than half in the past decade. It's now designated as a protected marine species. 15 finless porpoises were found dead on the coast of Jejudo Island this year alone. Some 4000 of these rare animals died in the past five years. More than 800 perish each year. In more than 90 percent of the cases they are killed by fishing equipment installed in the ocean.

[Soundbite] Sohn Ho-seon(Nat’l Institute of Fisheries Science) : "Stow nets shaped like pouches are installed in very strong currents. Fish including finless porpoises cannot escape once they get trapped inside."

To protect finless porpoises, a technology for making exits in fishing nets to help the animals escape has been supplied to 63 fishing vessels. However, fishermen are opposed to this, because other fish can easily escape through the exits as well.

[Soundbite] Yang Young-jin(Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries) : "If the efficiency and convenience of fishing gets worse, fishing tools should be redesigned to improve the situation."

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to conduct more autopsies on finless porpoises to find out the exact cause of their deaths. It's imperative that we gain greater understanding of this species ecological needs and develop protection measures.