Rare fish released into river in NW China's Qinghai

XINING -- Over 100,000 rare fish have been released into the Markog River basin at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, China's longest river.

The release took place on Tuesday in Golog Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Qinghai province in the northwest of China.

The released batch included 16 specimens of Hucho bleekeri, which is a fish species under first-class national protection. This species is mostly found in China's Sichuan province and Shaanxi province.

Wu Xiaodong, vice director of the Qinghai provincial department of agriculture and rural affairs, said that the provincial fishery administration had been conducting surveys on aquatic living resources for many years in the Qinghai section of the Yangtze River basin.

No Hucho bleekeri fish were found in the monitoring, so it is inferred that this species is in an extremely endangered state in Qinghai, according to Wu.

To rebuild the habitat of Hucho bleekeri, Golog prefecture, located in the source region of the Yangtze, has taken measures including the implementation of a 10-year fishing ban and joint law enforcement, said Cui Hongwei, director of the Golog bureau of agriculture, animal husbandry and science and technology.

Cui added that the release will promote the protection of the rare and endangered species of the Yangtze River in Qinghai.

The province will continue to strengthen the habitat protection and reconstruction of rare and endangered aquatic organisms, strengthen monitoring and investigation of the species, and conduct the introduction and artificial breeding of Hucho bleekeri, said Wu.