One third of 16 original aquatic species living in the drainage
area of the Yellow River in northern China are in danger
of extinction, water resources protection bureau warns. It was
due to aggravation of water pollution over the past decades.
The second largest river of China, the 5,464-meter-long Yellow
River originates in the mountains of western China and winds its
way through eight provinces and autonomous regions before emptying
into the Bohai Sea in east China.
With clear water, many tributaries of the Yellow River had an
affluent supply of fishes and shrimps in the 1950s to 1960s. Now
they are badly polluted and stinking to the sky, with all fishes
and shrimps disappearing, say experts with the Research Institute
of Yellow River Water Resources Protection.
The Weihe River, a tributary of the Yellow River in western
China's Shaanxi Province, was famous for the fishery resources in
its lower reaches in the 1970s. Many local residents along the
river valley made a living from fishing. But now there is only one
species dubbed "Geyu" left, with all of the others extinct. And
with a heavy flavor of kerosene, the only survivor is not
edible.
In the lower reaches of the Yellow River, particularly the
section near the Haihe River around Tianjin Municipality, there
were a lot of migratory fishes, which grew in the offshore area and
spawned in fresh water. But they are now on the verge of
extinction.
The experts warn that water exhaustion in the lower reaches of
the river is the worst threat to the migratory fishes, but water
pollution is their direct "killer".
Currently, pollutants discharged into the Yellow River average
4.2 billion cubic meters a year, doubling the level in the 1980s,
according to statistics.
To address the problem, the Yellow River Water Resources
Commission has decided on a pollutant control scheme to curb
drainage of industrial and domestic sewage into the river and
improve the water quality of the river, says Su Maolin, deputy
director of the commission.
China expects to put the ecological system of the mainstream of
the Yellow River into a healthy circulation around 2020.
(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2004)