Release program boosts Chinese sturgeon population

Artificially bred fish species are introduced to the Yangtze River to improve biodiversity. Li Lei reports from Beijing, with Liu Kun in Yichang, Hubei.

Editor's note: As protection of the planet's flora, fauna and resources becomes increasingly important, China Daily is publishing a series of stories to illustrate the country's commitment to safeguarding the natural world.

On a sunny day, hundreds of volunteers swarmed along the banks of a stretch of the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei province, in Central China.

A vessel owned by the China Fishery Law Enforcement, a bureau with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, which is overseeing a decadelong fishing ban imposed in 2021 to restore the river's biodiversity, docked nearby. The workers embarked on a gargantuan task: to release about 230,000 Chinese sturgeons into the waterway, the natural spawning ground of the fish.