Cadres and staff members of the fishery departments at provincial
and municipal levels of Guangdong Province recently released 3,000
Chinese sturgeon into the Pearl River at the provincial propagation
and releasing center in Shawan, Fanyu. The action took place on
June 8 for a province-wide unified fish release.
Chinese sturgeon is a peculiar species to China. Over 1,000 wild
Chinese sturgeon are estimated to be living in the Yangtze River
valley, which is so rare they got the name, "giant pandas in the
river" and are under top national protection.
Among the 3,000 Chinese sturgeon released recently, 200 were
attached with silver labels for tracing and research as they are
expected to proliferate in the river upon release.
The released sturgeon are a newborn species straight from wild
Chinese sturgeon, and are more suitable for breeding in a natural
environment. Therefore, related fishery administration departments
announced that newly released sturgeons can't be eaten according to
wildlife protection regulations. If local citizens catch the
sturgeons unintentionally, they are advised to release them back
into river. Fishery departments also claim to promote awareness
among the public of protecting Chinese sturgeon and related
regulations.
In
addition, about 300 million fish fry have been released in
Guangdong this year, the maximum in provincial history. Among them,
freshwater small fry amount to 131 million, freshwater shrimp fry
weigh 825 tons, seawater fry amount to 6.55 million, seawater
shrimp fry 110 million, shellfish weigh 152 tons, and Babylonia
areolata, abalones, Hiatula diphos, and sea urchins altogether
amount to 1.03 million.
Over 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) have been invested in this
year's propagation and releasing work in the province. Furthermore,
releasing range involves artificially built reef areas this year,
not just limited within rivers and seas.
It
was the first time that some 2 million shrimp fry were released
into the juncture river valley of Guangdong and Hong Kong, around
the estuary of the Pearl River on June 6, benefiting from
cooperation of both parts.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, June 12, 2003)