On August 27, after more than a month, Ruzhou, Henan Province, drained the water of Yunchan Lake and finally caught a "strange fish" - crocodile eel. The huge pumping salvage operation has aroused widespread concern. In Qingdao, Shandong, Nantong, Jiangsu and other places, the traces of crocodile eels have also been found recently.
Native to North America, the alligator eel is a freshwater giant carnivorous fish with strong fecundity and a lack of natural predators native to the continent, in line with the basic characteristics of invasive alien species. In recent years, this "uninvited guest" has frequently caused trouble and has repeatedly appeared in hot searches, sounding the alarm for the prevention and control of alien species invasion.
To catch a fish, drain a lake of water. The big move leads to the question: Who will manage and how to manage alien species? How can the public improve its ability to identify and deal with invasive alien species? Reporters investigate.
A crocodile eel fry free shipping 9 yuan 9
"Great praise, put it in the tank for a while and eat!" "Yes, the fish are active"... The reporter searched on a number of e-commerce platforms and found that the live fish fry of the crocodile eel can be purchased directly, and many buyers have posted a picture of praise. At the Taobao store "Yudeshui Fishery Store", the sales page of Fu Crocodile shows more than 400 people paying. 5-7 cm fry, priced at only 9.9 yuan, can also be free shipping.
According to the store, the scientific name of the crocodile is crocodile eel, and specially reminded, "This fish grows fast, and the longest in the fish tank can grow to more than one meter." Fish that are smaller than it may be eaten, and it is best to polyculture fish that are comparable to or larger than it when feeding. ”
Not only is it easy to buy online, but crocodile eels are also "wandering" everywhere offline. On August 29, the Nantong Municipal Agricultural Comprehensive Administrative Law Enforcement Detachment seized 5 and 18 crocodile eels at RT-Mart Zhongnan Store and Guanyin Mountain Store, respectively, where crocodile eels were sold as ornamental fish. In Nanjing Seven Bridges Urn Flower Bird Fish And Insect Market, the reporter visited a number of aquarium shops selling tropical fish, and found that almost every store has crocodile eels for sale, the fish is about 40 cm long and sells for about 200 yuan, some stores see the reporter staying in front of the crocodile eel tank, and immediately came forward to warmly solicit, "This fish is an omnivore, eat everything, and now it is very hot." ”
The reporter's investigation found that the alligator eel is only the "tip of the iceberg" of the live trade of alien species. In May this year, the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment and the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs jointly compiled the "List of Invasive Alien Species in Jiangsu Province (First Batch)" on the basis of the background survey of biodiversity at the county level in the province, including 32 invasive alien species, 8 key controlled species of Class I, and 24 species of General Control of Class II. Among them, some invasive alien species clearly included in the list of our province, such as the Brazilian red-eared turtle, depending on the size, are priced at 10 yuan to 30 yuan on the e-commerce platform; Another example is the mosquito-eating fish, 10 1-1.5 cm fry priced at only 12.8 yuan; there is a year of poncho, more "packaged" for flying grass, a pot of about 18 yuan. The reporter asked a store in a private letter, "Why can the Brazilian red-eared turtle be sold as an invasive alien species"? The store replied: "If it can be listed, it can be sold, and there is no problem with domestic support." ”
Dai Weimin, deputy director of the Department of Botany of the College of Life Sciences of Nanjing Agricultural University, participated in the compilation of the first batch of invasive alien species in our province, he introduced that in the past, alien species mainly entered the local area through international trade, ornamental introduction and other channels, in recent years, with the rise of cross-border e-commerce and the international express delivery industry, alien species have more diversified access channels, and alien species are also used as "alternative pets" for profit, which has aggravated the risk of the spread and spread of alien species.
"Wrong release is killing"
Alien species spread widely in the wild, and the root cause lies in humans.
Tang Zhebin, 56, the leader of the three detachments of the Law Enforcement Corps of the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and has been engaged in fishery administration law enforcement for many years, said, "Crocodile eels were found in the rivers and lakes of Nanjing a few years ago; In the current law enforcement process, residents' release behavior is also common, including crocodile eels. ”
"Thinking that release can accumulate virtue and do good deeds and resolve disasters is actually an act that affects the ecology." A member of the Nanjing Suiyuan Release and Nursing Group told reporters. Suzhou Kunshan Release Alliance, Yangzhou Loving Society Health Care Group, Xuzhou Bodhi Heart Release Group and other non-governmental groups will regularly organize release behavior, the reporter randomly asked some members, generally believe that release is a good deed, whether the released species is an alien species also lack of cognition.
Gu Dangen, associate researcher of the Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, analyzed that from the current point-like distribution situation of the crocodile eel found, the probability of artificial release of the crocodile eel in natural waters is large, it is likely to be artificially farmed, due to the rapid growth rate, the aquarium can not accommodate or can not afford the cost of breeding and is artificially released or discarded.
Disorderly release has become an important part of the invasion of alien species into the indigenous environment. In June last year, Nanjing launched its first systematic biodiversity ontology survey, which found that a kind of algae that had never appeared in Nanjing before expanded rapidly and had an inhibitory effect on native organisms. Dai Weimin's team found that the algae grows in the tropics and is sold in some aquarium stores, speculating that the tropical algae in Nanjing's natural waters are artificially purchased and discarded.
"Dozens of dead fish floated up in Wuxi Lihu Lake, suspected to be the "curse" of blind release"; "Shanghai Suzhou Creek due to blind release of a large number of dead fish" ... The release chaos stirred by crocodile eels is frequent. Zhao Xumao, a young researcher at the Institute of Ecology and Innovation of Lanzhou University, analyzed that after humans intentionally or unintentionally bring alien species into the range that does not belong to their natural distribution, they will reproduce and establish populations locally, which is very likely to form an invasion of alien species, resulting in the degradation or even extinction of local species. For example, in the annual canopy sold as an ornamental plant on the e-commerce platform, each plant can produce an average of 10,000 to 50,000 seeds during a growth period, and its strong reproductive ability makes it occupy the living space of local plants.
"A wrong release is killing." Tang Zhebin said that in the process of law enforcement, people often ask why the official often multiplies and releases, but does not allow citizens to release them. Breeding and stocking of the Yangtze River is a systematic and scientific thing, how many fish to release, what fish to release, fry size, size, quality, etc. Also have certain requirements, experts need to formulate breeding and stocking plans according to the investigation. Due to the lack of professional knowledge, the public may have inadvertently released invasive alien species, such as many field snails doped with invasive species Fushou snails.
There are laws to follow, but violations of the law are difficult to prosecute
To manage alien species well, in fact, there is a law to follow. In the past two years, the mainland has successively promulgated the Biosecurity Law of the People's Republic of China and the Measures for the Management of Invasive Alien Species, making provisions on source prevention, monitoring and early warning, and governance and restoration. However, industry insiders believe that a small crocodile eel has exposed problems such as the urgent need for relevant regulations to be implemented.
"Although the law stipulates that 'no unit or individual may introduce, release or discard alien species without approval', it does not explicitly prohibit the breeding, purchase and sale of introduced alien species, which leads to the e-commerce platform being able to search for information on the sale of alien species." Chen Bin, a lawyer at Jiangsu Taihe Law Firm, believes that the control of the introduction of alien species has been very strict, but it still needs to be further regulated in the breeding and sales process. The supervision and management of exotic species-related markets such as aquarium markets, pet markets, and breeding markets should be strengthened, and e-commerce platforms also urgently need to establish an audit system, and individuals raising alien species should be registered under the real-name system.
In the view of Wu Weixing, a professor at the Law School of Nanjing University, the punishment for the operators of alien species is not yet clear in the law, but when the trading directly triggers or promotes the illegal introduction, release or abandonment, the relevant operators should bear the corresponding legal responsibility. In order to effectively curb the threat to biosecurity posed by such acts, legislation needs to further improve relevant systems and regulatory measures.
At the level of operational implementation of relevant regulations, there are still many "blind spots". The Regulations on the Protection and Management of Aquatic Organisms in the Yangtze River, which came into effect on February 1 this year, prohibit the breeding, stocking of alien species or other non-native species in the open waters of the Yangtze River Basin. However, the relevant person in charge of Nanjing Binjiang Park Management Co., Ltd. admitted that the Yangtze River shoreline is very long, and it is difficult for the staff to find out who released or discarded the alien species without authorization, and in the case of not being able to find who is the releaser and discarder, the cost of violating the law is almost zero.
"Because the invasion of alien species involves a wide range, the incubation period is long, it is difficult to trace the source, it is difficult to find a specific infringing entity, or there are difficulties in determining the infringing entity, that is, the defendant, and it is difficult to achieve the purpose of pursuing responsibility and curbing through civil public interest litigation." Liu Yan, a full-time member of the Procuratorial Committee of the Taizhou Municipal People's Procuratorate, said that in response to the threat of indigenous biosecurity by alien species such as a branch of yellow flower and Fushou snail in Canada, the Taizhou Municipal People's Procuratorate organized 7 grass-roots courts in the city to carry out special inspections of biosecurity public interest litigation, and promptly issued pre-litigation procuratorial suggestions for public interest litigation to functional departments and territorial governments, urging them to organize and carry out effective prevention and eradication work in a timely manner to avoid the rapid spread of invasive alien species.
Alien species management "should be tight and not loose"
During the investigation, the reporter found a surprising fact - as of now, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have published four batches of invasive alien species list, although the crocodile eel is an alien species, but it is not in the list of invasive species.
"Whether alien species have invasive properties requires long-term scientific assessment." Dai Weimin said, for example, the water hyacinth, which was originally introduced as pig feed, has been flooded in many places in our province and even the whole country. Due to the rapid reproduction and expansion of the interfluille rice grass introduced by the protection of the beach, it has affected the breeding of wetland mudflats and blocked the boat lanes, bringing huge economic losses. Although the academic community has not yet given authoritative conclusions about whether some alien species pose a risk of biological invasion, he suggested that the management of exotic species should be tight and not loose. Early warning mechanisms should be established to make forward-looking assessments of the risk consequences of possible invasions by foreign species. Because once the future invasion is realized, the damage to the ecosystem will be irreversible.
"The impact of alien species on indigenous ecology cannot be judged overnight, so the list of whether it constitutes an invasion should be dynamically updated." Wang Beixin, director of the Department of Entomology at the College of Plant Protection of Nanjing Agricultural University, said. This year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and other relevant departments formulated the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Overall Plan for the Census of Invasive Alien Species", and 10 major alien aquatic organisms were surveyed nationwide, including crocodile eels. The Measures for the Management of Invasive Alien Species, which came into effect in August this year, also clearly stipulate that a census and monitoring system for invasive alien species shall be established, a national census shall be organized every ten years, and a national invasive alien species monitoring network shall be established.
Clarifying the boundaries between "foreign" and "invasion", the relevant departments of our province have launched actions. At present, the Jiangsu Freshwater Fisheries Research Institute is conducting a census of invasive aquatic animals. Li Daming, deputy director of the Resources and Environment Research Office of the Institute, introduced that the research team went to The Lake from August 11 to 13 to carry out a census of invasive aquatic animals from the outside world, and the census set up 8 inspection points such as the mouth of the Taihu Canal lake and the mouth of the Wunan River, focusing on the investigation of 10 exotic aquatic animals such as Qi's tilapia, crocodile eel, mosquito-eating fish, Fushou snail, bullfrog and so on.
Xu Tianjiao, director of the Soil Ecology Department of the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, reminded that in the face of alien species, the whole society should be vigilant, everyone should start from themselves, establish a sense of ecological protection, strictly abide by relevant laws and regulations, do not buy foreign "exotic pets", do not bring species from abroad, and what has been purchased cannot be released at will, and jointly build a defense line to maintain ecological security.