The Yangtze finless porpoise is a freshwater mammal unique to China. According to the Yangtze finless porpoise ecological investigation in 2017, the number of Yangtze finless porpoises stands at 1,012.

Located in northern Hubei Province, Dongting Lake is the second biggest freshwater lake in China, and it is one of the most important habitats for the Yangtze finless porpoise.

He Daming was born here in a fisherman's family. He was a fisherman, but later, he started devoting himself to the environmental protection of the Dongting Lake.

He Dongshun is He Daming's son. After graduating from college, Dongshun decided to work for Dongting Lake's environment with his father. Even though it's tough to work on a small salary, they hope their work can help the Yangtze finless porpoise so that it can live in the Dongting Lake forever.

In 2003, He Daming rescued a mother and a calf. It was unexpected that these two finless porpoises surrounded He Daming's boat and refused to leave. Since then, He sees the finless porpoises as humans, and for him they have emotions. After that, he started to pay attention to the finless porpoises.

2006 was an unforgettable year for He Daming. In August of the lunar calendar, his son wanted to eat some fish, but as a fisherman, he hadn't caught any fish for a long time. He decided to go to a fish market to buy some. But it was shocking that there was not even a fish in the fish market.

He was soon lost in reflection. If the number of fish in Dongting Lake keeps decreasing, the fishermen can't make a living, and the finless porpoise might suffer from hunger. He thought one of the reasons that cause the decreasing of fish might be illegal fishing, for example, by using high voltage electric shocks. Once they are shocked, a large number of lives might die in a short time, including the finless porpoises.

He Daming decided to stop the illegal fishing. In the first step, he bought three dictionaries to write a persuasive letter and printed out 1,000 pieces to hand out to fishermen in the Dongting Lake.

At the very beginning, Mr. He did all the environmental protection work by himself. Then, he called on other fishermen to participate.  Later, he set up an ecological environmental protection association and led a group of people to protect their mother lake.

First, they go on patrol, then figure out the problem at hand, then call the related departments, and finally,they help those departments solve the problem.

When female Yangtze finless porpoises are on their pregnancy period, Mr.He stays on the ship near the habitat of finless porpoises every day to keep them safe. He also needs to patrol the lake. Even if they receive a volunteer call from 100km away at midnight, they should go immediately. While going on patrol at a high speed by the light of the moon, He Daming should keep away from every submerged rock of the lake. To figure out if high voltage electric fishing is being used, you don't use your eyes, but your ears and experience. He could hear the boat which is using electric shocks about 16 km away.

Seeing more than 70 finless porpoises jumping in the area where he has protected, He Daming was not excited, mixed feelings filled his heart. He knows it's not easy.

He Daming is pleased that his son Dongshun can defend their mother lake. Dongshun feels the honor to engage in Dongting protection with his father. "If I have children, I will tell them with pride, your father and grandfather are both protecting the Yangtze finless porpoise," said Dongshun.

They believe that so many people helping to protect the lake means that later Dongting will be a lake in which people could see birds flying in the sky, elks walking on the wetland, and the Yangtze finless porpoises smiling in the water.