Captive bred rare sturgeon released into the wild in China

Boat traffic, pollution and human development in the Yangze River are thought to have driven the Chinese sturgeon to the brink of extinction

Researchers in China have released 3,000 captive-bred Chinese sturgeons, a rare fish that dates back to the dinosaurs, into the country's longest river, the Yangtze, to save the species from extinction reports the Global Times.

Estimates by experts say that due to development in and around rivers, heavy boat traffic and water pollution, the number of wild Chinese sturgeons which migrate to Gezhouba, Hubei Province, to breed has fallen from about 1,000 in 1982 to about 50.

In this latest release, staff at the Chinese Sturgeons Research Institute transferred 500 fish born in 2011 and with a body length of 80cm, and 2,500 fish born in 2013, which had reached about 40cm in length from their holding pens to the river. 

According to Gao Yong, the Deputy Head of the Research Instituted, they are also employing advanced methods to track the two age groups simultaneously to monitor their progress and see which group fares best.

Continued ...

Ancient sturgeon in China's Yangtze 'nearly extinct'

15 September 2014 Last updated at 07:28

The Chinese sturgeon, thought to have existed for more than 140 million years, is now on the brink of extinction, according to local media.

Xinhua reported that no wild sturgeon reproduced naturally last year in the Yangtze river.

It was the first time since researchers began recording levels 32 years ago.

Chinese researches say the fall is due to rising levels of pollution in the Yangtze river and the construction of dozens of dams.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences also found that no young sturgeons were found swimming along the Yangtze toward the sea during the period they usually do so.

A researcher told Xinhua that in the 1980s, at least several thousand sturgeon could be found in the river. It is estimated only around 100 fish remain.

"Without natural reproduction, the fish population cannot replenish itself. If there are no further steps taken to strengthen conservation, the wild sturgeon faces the danger of extinction," he said.

Continued ...

China: Cash reward for rescuing Yangtze finless porpoises

A People who save a rare freshwater mammal found only in China's Yangtze River basin can claim a cash prize from the local fisheries bureau, it appears.

Reporting that a Yangtze finless porpoise has been injured or is at risk - and helping save the animal before officials arrive - could be rewarded with 300 yuan ($48, £29), the People's Daily newspaper says. A smaller reward of 100 yuan could be given to residents who report the death of a porpoise, or supply tips.

It is thought only about 1,000 of these freshwater animals remain in the wild. About half the population lives in Poyang Lake, which supplies the Yangtze River. The population has seen a dramatic crash recently, falling by nearly 14% each year since 2006, according to an official report from 2013.

Experts say pollution and low water levels are harming the fragile species. Poyang Lake used to be China's largest freshwater lake, but the construction of a dam and recent droughts have reportedly reduced its size by nearly 95%.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-26610677

Conserving Life Along China's Yangtze River (Op-Ed)

Nick Conger is former editor of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) blog, On Balance. This article was adapted from his post Conserving Life Along the Yangtze. Conger contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

In late 2006, researchers from the Institute of Hydrobiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, China returned from a six-week journey on the Yangtze River, dejected.

They had searched far and wide for signs of the baji — commonly known as the "Goddess of the Yangtze," China's famed river dolphin — and came up empty. Months later the freshwater species was declared functionally extinct.

Continued

Tears for the 'river pig'

Increasing pollution of the Yangtze River and the threat this poses to the finless porpoise is also a warning for a third of the nation's population that depends on these waters. Wang Ru reports.Growing up in Huanggang, a city by the Yangtze River in Central China's Hubei province, He Dan had heard from elderly fishermen about a rare fish, dubbed the "river pig" by locals.

volunteer is distraught after seeing the Yangtze River finless porpoise rescued in Shishou, Hubei province, in May. Gao Baoyan / For China Daily

The fishermen described them as shy animals that often chased their boats, making a whistling sound. However, the term "river pig" was not really appropriate for the clever animal, that fishermen recall leaping out of the water in pairs or as a group.

He says she never spotted a "river pig" in her childhood, but did witness the increasing dredging of the river to feed the construction sites on its banks, and the resulting muddying of its waters.
He, a junior student of Chinese literature at Central South University in Hunan province, recalls how shocked she was to see a photograph that stirred much online discussion. It was of a rescued dolphin-like animal seemingly shedding tears. She learnt it was the "river pig" - the Yangtze finless porpoise - of her childhood.


By Wang Ru (China Daily)

Read on ...

Critically endangered Chinese alligators breeding in the wild after reintroduction

July 2009. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has announced that critically endangered alligators in China have a new chance for survival. The WCS's Bronx Zoo, in partnership with two other North American parks and the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Management of the State Forestry Administration of China, has successfully reintroduced alligators into the wild that are now multiplying on their own.

Reintroduced to the mouth of the Yangtze River

The alligator hatchlings-15 in number-are the offspring of a group of alligators that includes animals from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo. The baby alligators represent a milestone for the 10-year effort to reintroduce the Chinese alligator on Chongming Island, located at the mouth of China's Yangtze River.

"We are grateful to our Chinese partners for their commitment to reintroduce Chinese alligators back into the wild," said Dr. Steven E. Sanderson, President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "WCS has championed careful wildlife reintroductions for more than a century. The reintroduction of Chinese alligators is a great example of how WCS partners with governments and local communities around the world to save wildlife and wild places."

Just 130 animals left in the wild

Plans to reintroduce Chinese alligators started in 1999 with a survey conducted by WCS, the Anhui Forestry Bureau, and the East China Normal University in Anhui Province, the only remaining location where the reptiles are still found in the wild in what is a small fraction of the alligator's former range. The results of the survey were dire, with an estimate of fewer than 130 animals in a declining population.

An international workshop on the species was held in 2001, followed by recommendations for the reintroduction of captive bred alligators. The first three animals released in Hongxing Reserve of Xuancheng County in Anhui in 2003 were from the Anhui Research Center of Chinese Alligator Reproduction (ARCCAR).

To ensure the maximum genetic diversity for the effort, project participants imported 12 more animals to Changxing Yinjiabian Chinese Alligator Nature Reserve from North America, including four from the Bronx Zoo. From this group, three animals from the U.S. were released in 2007 along with three more alligators from Changxing. The alligators were given health examinations by veterinary professionals from WCS's Global Health Program and the Shanghai Wildlife Zoo and fitted with radio transmitters for remote monitoring before being released.

Reintroduced alligators hibernated before breeding

Experts reported that the reintroduced alligators successfully hibernated, and then in 2008, bred in the wild.

Critically endangered ‘Muddy dragon'

With a former range that covered a wide watershed area of East China, the Chinese alligator-or "tu long," which means "muddy dragon"-is now listed as "Critically Endangered" on IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species and is the most threatened of the 23 species of crocodilians in the world today. It is one of only two alligator species in existence (the other is the better known, and much better off, American alligator).

Yangtze River - Development a disaster for wildlife

The Yangtze River, where the reintroduction of these alligators took place, is the third longest river in the world (after the Amazon and the Nile) and is China's most economically important waterway. The world's largest hydro-electric dam-the Three Gorges Dam-is also located on the river. The high levels of development along the river have become a challenge for native wildlife; in 2006, a comprehensive search for the Yangtze River dolphin, or baiji, didn't find any, although one isolated sighting of a dolphin was made in 2007.

Other participants in the project include the East China Normal University, Shanghai Forestry Bureau, Changxing Yinjiabian Chinese Alligator Nature Reserve, and Wetland Park of Shanghai Industrial Investment (Holdings) Co. Ltd.

The project is being supported by the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Hong Kong.

The announcement was made at the International Congress for Conservation Biology, convened by the Society for Conservation Biology in Beijing, China (July 11-16).

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/chinese-alligators009.html