3,000 Chinese Rare Fish Species Set Free into Yangtze River

Three thousand artificially-bred Chinese sturgeons were released into the Yangtze River on Sunday to increase wild stocks of the rare species. Research personnel, volunteers and local residents joined the operation in the city of Yichang in central China's Hubei Province. Yichang is the site of the Three Gorges Dam and Gezhouba Dam. Believed to have lived at the same time as dinosaurs, the Chinese sturgeon, or "acipenser sinensis," has existed for more than 140 million years. The fish, nicknamed "aquatic panda," is a precious but endangered species native to China and has been placed under top-level state protection. The 3,000 sturgeons were bred by the Chinese Sturgeons Research Institute (CSRI), the only research institution for Chinese sturgeons in China which has released more than five million of the fish into the wild. The CSRI implanted sonar marks into 61 selected sturgeons this year in order to trace and monitor the movements of the race species. The number of marked sturgeon was 18 last year. It has collected the DNA information of all the 3,000 Chinese sturgeon and tagged them with special signs showing the contact number of the institute, so that they can be brought back if they are mistakenly captured by fishermen. Founded in 1982, the CSRI started artificial breeding program in 1983, since when suitable wild sturgeons are fetched every year in the Yangtze River near Gezhouba Dam for the program, in which oxytocin is also adopted. The young fish bred through the program would then undergo a month-long adaptation period in the wild before being released to the Yangtze River. Meanwhile, experts said they haven't detected natural reproduction of the species in the Yangtze River for two consecutive years, indicating the deteriorative ecological condition in the river as well as a threat to the survival of the species. "The Chinese sturgeon as well as other aquatic life in the Yangtze River are facing a very serious challenge, a threat together. At present, the ecological system of the Yangtze River is degrading seriously. The Baiji is extincted, the cowfish endangered and the Chinese sturgeon hasn't had natural reproduction for nearly two years. These illustrates that the ecological environment of the Yangtze River is very bad and this is the biggest problem faced by these species," said Gao Yong, deputy head of the CSRI. More on: http://newscontent.cctv.com/NewJsp/news.jsp?fileId=291116 Subscribe us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmv5DbNpxH8X2eQxJBqEjKQ CCTV+ official website: http://newscontent.cctv.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cctv-news-content? Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/CCTV/756877521031964 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NewsContentPLUS