One third of 16 original aquatic species living in the drainage area of the Yellow River in northern China are in danger of extinction, water resources protection bureau warns. It was due to aggravation of water pollution over the past decades.

The second largest river of China, the 5,464-meter-long Yellow River originates in the mountains of western China and winds its way through eight provinces and autonomous regions before emptying into the Bohai Sea in east China.

With clear water, many tributaries of the Yellow River had an affluent supply of fishes and shrimps in the 1950s to 1960s. Now they are badly polluted and stinking to the sky, with all fishes and shrimps disappearing, say experts with the Research Institute of Yellow River Water Resources Protection.

The Weihe River, a tributary of the Yellow River in western China's Shaanxi Province, was famous for the fishery resources in its lower reaches in the 1970s. Many local residents along the river valley made a living from fishing. But now there is only one species dubbed "Geyu" left, with all of the others extinct. And with a heavy flavor of kerosene, the only survivor is not edible.

In the lower reaches of the Yellow River, particularly the section near the Haihe River around Tianjin Municipality, there were a lot of migratory fishes, which grew in the offshore area and spawned in fresh water. But they are now on the verge of extinction.

The experts warn that water exhaustion in the lower reaches of the river is the worst threat to the migratory fishes, but water pollution is their direct "killer".

Currently, pollutants discharged into the Yellow River average 4.2 billion cubic meters a year, doubling the level in the 1980s, according to statistics.

To address the problem, the Yellow River Water Resources Commission has decided on a pollutant control scheme to curb drainage of industrial and domestic sewage into the river and improve the water quality of the river, says Su Maolin, deputy director of the commission.

China expects to put the ecological system of the mainstream of the Yellow River into a healthy circulation around 2020.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2004)