Henan Daily client reporter Liu Xiaobo
Speaking of the rare fish eel in the Yellow River, Zhao Daoquan, head of the germplasm resource bank of the Provincial Academy of Fishery Sciences, is still unable to hide his excitement.
"In June this year, we found three eels when we were sampling in the Changyuan section of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, which was a real treasure at that time. In the 1970s and 1980s, eels migrated annually between the Yellow River and the Yellow Sea, but due to the construction of large reservoirs, the interruption of the Yellow River and water pollution, the eels disappeared for many years. The reappearance of eels now indicates that the ecological environment of the Yellow River has been greatly improved. On October 11, Zhao Daoquan said in an interview with reporters.
Compared with eels, the northern copper fish, which is also a rare fish, is not so lucky. "This fish was the main economic fish in the middle reaches of the Yellow River before the 1960s, but its number gradually decreased due to overfishing and water pollution of the Yellow River, and the last time it was found in the Yellow River was in 1996, and it has not been seen since." Wang Yanhui, head of the scientific research section of the Provincial Academy of Fishery Sciences, sighed.
Once upon a time, the Yellow River Basin was rich in fish resources, with more than 120 species of fish in the main stream alone, but by the beginning of this century, it had dropped to more than 80 species, and some indigenous species in the Yellow River Basin had faded from people's sight, and some species were gradually approaching endangerment.
It is urgent to protect rare fish and restore biodiversity.
Since 2005, our province has released a total of 1 billion fish such as four major fish, Yellow River carp, Qihe crucian carp and other fish, and established 20 national aquatic germplasm nature reserves such as Yellow River carp, Qihe crucian carp, Chinese turtle, green shrimp, wrinkled crown mussel, yellow jaw fish, Vassoli yaro fish, Ussuri salamander and other national aquatic germplasm nature reserves; established 3 provincial nature reserves for giant salamander and yellow-edged closed-shell turtles, and 2 county-level nature reserves for giant salamander.
Genetic diversity is an important part of biodiversity. In 2015, relying on the Provincial Academy of Fishery Sciences, our province established the Henan Aquatic Germplasm Resource Bank, which has preserved 33 kinds of aquatic germplasm resources and 20,000 germplasm materials such as Yellow River carp, Yellow River catfish, yellow river catfish, yellow river yaluo fish, flower catfish, lip carp, yellow tail catfish, etc.
Important progress has been made in the conservation of rare fish species. Zhao Daoquan and his team broke through the artificial breeding technology of a number of indigenous fish, and with the help of this, the "indigenous" species of Yellow River Yaluo fish returned to the ecological chain of the Yellow River Basin.
"The phylum not only achieves preservation, but also achieves large-scale breeding. Last month, we stocked 20,000 fish in the Changyuan section of the Yellow River Basin, and it is expected that after 3 to 5 years, these rare fish stocks will gradually form new populations, which is of great significance for effectively restoring the rare fish populations of the Yellow River and restoring biodiversity. Zhao Daoquan and his team have now won the scientific and technological research project of rare aquatic germplasm resources mining and biodiversity restoration in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and under the "blessing" of science and technology, more rare fish will appear in the Yellow River in the future.
At the end of the interview, Zhao Daoquan also revealed a wish. "Rare fish species cannot rely solely on artificial breeding, breeding and stocking, and resource conservation should be carried out simultaneously." Since January 2020, the Yangtze River Basin has implemented a ten-year fishing ban plan, can the Yellow River Basin try to learn from it? Zhao Daoquan said.
Edit: Wang Xiangqian