A ship of the Tongtai city in Jiangsu carrying 300 Chinese sturgeons, mostly one meter long, left the port at the Jionggang town at the noon of October 22 and drove to a nature reserve and sent them to the sea.

Qu Geping, chairman of the NPC committee of environment and resources, was on hand.

To save the endangered fish species, the city has established a nature reserve and a breeding base. It introduced Chinese sturgeon fries last spring and they have grown to 4 to 6 kilograms after a year.

Qu said that the city government has done a very significant thing. It spent more than 400,000 yuan for the work without asking for any economic returns. He said that such a sense of responsibility for the protection of animals should be popularized throughout the country.

(www.cenews.com.cn October 28, 2002)