June 6 marked the 8th National “Fish Releasing Day” this year. The launching ceremony of the "Fish Releasing Day" Hunan Event was held on Orange Isle in Changsha City. Zhang Yingchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and vice governor of Hunan Province, attended.

The fish fry were quarantined by the aquatic organism inspection and quarantine department and notarized by the notary agency before release. About 52.32 million fish fry were released into the Xiangjiang River. A total of 169 million fish fry were released in 42 counties or districts across the province on the day. It was learned that the artificial proliferation and release of fish can effectively multiply aquatic biological resources, restore the ecological environment of the waters, and maintain biodiversity. It is an important measure to protect the water ecology and water environment in Hunan.

In 2022, Hunan Province will organize and implement proliferation and release activities of aquatic organisms in a unified manner, mainly at the Dongting Lake, the “Four Waters” (Xiangjiang, Zijiang, Yuanshui, and Lishui Rivers) and their tributaries, the Pearl River Hunan basin, the large reservoirs over 50 square kilometers, and the waters of aquatic germplasm resources conservation areas. More than 620 million fish fingerlings and spawns of 20 kinds of mandatory species were planned to be released throughout the year, to promote the restoration of aquatic biodiversity. 

Hunan Province is one of the provinces with the most stressful task of banning fishing in the Yangtze River basin. It has fully implemented a ten-year fishing ban since 2021. Monitoring shows that the effect of the ten-year fishing ban has initially appeared, and the number of fish species in a single survey has remained at a relatively high level. In 2021, a total of 78 species of fish have been investigated, and the Ochetobius elongatus Kner, which has not been seen for many years, reappeared in the Dongting Lake. The Yangtze grenadier anchovy migrated to the waters of Hengling Lake in Xiangyin to spawn and breed.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.
 
Translator: Yu Jiangjiang
 
Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn