China releases over 800,000 endangered sturgeon into Yangtze River

CHENGDU -- More than 800,000 sturgeon bred in captivity were released into the upper reaches of the Yangtze River on Wednesday to revive the wild population of endangered Dabry's sturgeon.

The release was conducted by the China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) in the city of Yibin, Southwest China's Sichuan province.

The Dabry's sturgeon, also known as the Yangtze sturgeon, is an endangered species under the top level of national protection in China. It was classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2010.

The species' natural population has seen a sharp decrease since the 1980s, and it has not had the ability to breed naturally since 2000 due to dam construction, overfishing and crowded river.

In an effort to restore the population of the rare species, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the Yangtze River Sturgeon (Dabry's Sturgeon) Rescue Action Plan (2018-2035) in 2018. The Yangtze River Protection Law, China's first piece of legislation for a specific river basin, came into force on March 1, 2021, strengthening the protection of Dabry's sturgeon and other rare or endangered species.

"The large-scale release of artificially bred sturgeon has supplemented the natural population of Dabry's sturgeon. The CTG will continue breeding Dabry's sturgeon seedlings and conduct more releases, and it will promote the restoration of the species' natural population," said Qu Huantao, who works at a CTG rare fish breeding base.