More than 1,000 endangered Chinese sturgeons implanted with micro chips have been released into the Yangtze River as part of a project to study their migration habits, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
SHANGHAI, China — More than 1,000 endangered Chinese sturgeons implanted with micro chips have been released into the Yangtze River as part of a project to study their migration habits, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
The prehistoric fish are believed to be on the verge of extinction, although it isn't known how many remain in the wild. Scientists hope that tracking them remotely with the chips will teach them more about where the fish live and spawn, information that could be used to devise more effective conservation plans.
Most of the 1,512 fish released Monday into the mouth of the Yangtze River were raised in captivity, although they also included about 150 wild fish caught accidentally by fishermen, the Shanghai Daily said.
"It is significant for scientists to ... finding out how the fish lives," Xie Yumin, director of the Shanghai Wildlife Conservation Administration Office, was quoted as saying.
Along with the chips, each fish carries a tag with a phone number to call in the event it is caught or trapped, the report said. It wasn't clear how the chips would transmit migration information to wildlife officials.
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Chinese sturgeons, which have been found weighing up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds), are most often found along the Yangtze and its estuary just north of Shanghai.
The fish is a protected species in China and those who catch or sell them can be punished with heavy fines.
Since the 1990s, China has been breeding the fish in captivity and releasing its fry into the Yangtze in hopes of boosting its flagging numbers. Shanghai's wildlife administration has also set up a rescue center to help care for fish injured after being accidentally caught in nets.
However, the fish's decline has been largely been due to development, and China's booming economy threatens its numbers still further.
Dam construction on the river is believed to have decimated numbers of sturgeon, which gather at the mouth of the Yangtze each spring to swim to spawning grounds upstream. Fishing and plans to develop islands at the river's mouth also put the species at risk.
Source: Associated Press
