Authorities have legal duty to protect endangered species

CHINA'S LARGEST CHINESE STURGEON BREEDING base in Jingzhou, Hubei province, reported that the fish that belongs to the valuable first generation of its artificial breeding population started dying on Friday, and 36 had died by Saturday. The base also revealed that the second generation sturgeons began dying in large numbers from September, and nearly 6,000 had died by Nov 5. The Paper.cn comments:

Regretfully, the collective death of the rare fish, which according to an investigation by the Hubei fisheries bureau is due to the noise, vibration and water disturbance caused by a nearby construction project, is continuing. It is a heavy loss.

The Jingzhou base boasts 60 percent of the first generation of artificially bred Chinese sturgeons, the number of which is fewer than 1,000 nationwide. The first generation is deemed to be the most valuable as they are the closest genetically to their parents which were fish caught in the river.