China News Service Yichang, November 11 (Tang Dongjun, Zhang Dezhi, Ye Zi) According to the Three Gorges Group on the 6th, as of the end of October, the group has bred a total of 6.10 million Chinese sturgeon fry in 2023, and the number of breeding has reached a new high in the 120 years since the group carried out the artificial breeding of Chinese sturgeon.
This year's captive breeding of Chinese sturgeon began on September 9 and ended at the end of October. The Yangtze River Biodiversity Research Center of the Three Gorges Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the "Biodiversity Center") breeds mature Chinese sturgeon broodstock in three batches.
The Chinese sturgeon is a large migratory fish endemic to China, mainly distributed in the continental shelf waters of the southeast coast and the main stream of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In 1988, the Chinese sturgeon was listed as a national first-class key protected wild animal, and in 2010, it was listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Since 2009, China has banned the fishing of wild Chinese sturgeons by scientific research, and in this case, the Center for Biological Diversity has taken the lead in breaking through the technology of full artificial breeding of Chinese sturgeons. In recent years, the Center for Biological Diversity has systematically carried out research on key technologies such as gonadal development regulation, nutritional intensification, large-scale cultivation, broodstock rehabilitation and survival of Chinese sturgeon, established an artificial population echelon with the second generation of Chinese sturgeon as the main child and complete age echelon, improved the early sex identification technology of fish, explored the influence of key factors on fish growth and development, and accurately regulated the artificial population of Chinese sturgeon, forming a complete artificial breeding technology system of Chinese sturgeon.
It is reported that in five years, the Center for Biological Diversity has achieved a significant leap from "10,000" to "100,000" and then to "1 million" in Chinese sturgeon breeding. The Three Gorges Corporation has been successfully breeding Chinese sturgeons in captivity for many years, and has insisted on releasing Chinese sturgeons into the Yangtze River on a large scale every year, effectively supplementing the wild population resources of Chinese sturgeons. (ENDS)