China to release 200,000 rare fish into Yangtze River
Published on: Sunday, March 26, 2023
By: Bernama
Chinese sturgeons swim in the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute’s basement in Jingzhou, Hubei province, Sept. 19, 2021. – Wen Ruohan | The Paper
WUHAN: China will release 200,000 Chinese sturgeon into the Yangtze River, the country's longest river, starting Saturday, as part of its efforts to protect the rare fish.
The first batch of 100,000 fish was released in Yichang City of Hubei Province on Saturday, with two more batches to follow, said China Three Gorges Corporation, noting that it has conducted the release every year since 1984, said Xinhua.
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With a history of 140 million years, Chinese sturgeon is among the most ancient vertebrate species on earth and is under Class-A protection in China. The fish is mainly protected through artificial breeding and released into the natural environment.
Sturgeon released this year are between six months to 14 years old, a design aimed at fostering the restoration of the wild population, said Jiang Wei, chief engineer of the company's research centre for the species.
Before the release, larger sturgeon nearing sexual maturity were branded with satellite tracers for analysing environmental impacts on the species survival in the wild, in order to inform future protection measures.
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In December 2020, China promulgated the Yangtze River Protection Law, providing a legal guarantee for biodiversity conservation in the river.
