Some artificially bred Chinese sturgeons were released into the
Yangtze River on Friday, the waterway where this aquatic species
has lived for 140 million years.
This means that we have worked out a method to artificially
breed this rare aquatic species, making it possible for us to
protect this living fossil fish from extinction at least for the
foreseeable future.
Chinese sturgeon used to travel nearly 3,000 kilometers to the
upstream of the Yangtze to lay eggs. But, starting from the 1980s,
dams built along the river made it impossible for it to continue to
do this.
Scientists concluded then that it was possible that such
sturgeons could develop the habit of laying eggs in waters around
the Gezhouba Dam in the middle reaches of the river when they could
no longer travel further upstream. They did. But the damming of
river water by the Three Gorges Dam three years ago has possibly
damaged the environment for sturgeons to lay eggs in the waters
near the Gezhouba Dam.
The successful artificial breeding of this fish in the 1980s
made it possible for the fish to survive without breeding in the
river.
It also suggests that our efforts to mitigate the negative
impact of tapping the resources of the river have paid off.
About 6 million artificially bred Chinese sturgeons of different
ages and sizes have been released into the river since 1981.
The negative message is that our human activities have destroyed
the natural environment for quite a number of wild species,
including Chinese sturgeons. It is fortunate that we have succeeded
in artificially breeding Chinese sturgeons. If we had failed, such
species would have already become extinct. Some, such as the Baiji
Yangtze dolphin, another rare aquatic species in the river, are
believed to have become extinct.
Can humanity coexist peacefully with other species? It seems
that humanity is only able to explore natural resources and develop
for its own benefits at the cost of other species.
Scientists estimate that more than 800 species have become
extinct because of human activities over the past 500 years, and
even more will disappear at a far faster rate in the near future
unless we do something.
The artificial breeding of Chinese sturgeons and giant pandas is
a step we have taken to maintain biodiversity, albeit a passive
one. We need positive steps to protect wild species.
(China Daily April 21, 2007)
