China (Fish) Crisis

Giant fish near extinction

A giant Chinese river fish is feared to be on the verge of extinction. The results of a three year study published in the Journal of Applied Ichthyology revealed that despite many attempts, scientists failed to catch a single paddlefish.

The Chinese paddlefish is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, growing to lengths of seven metres and weighting up to half a tonne. It's also called 'elephant fish' due to its long snout and is suspected to be anadromous: living in marine water and spawning in fresh water.

Scientists have suggested that one reason for the dwindling numbers of the fish stocks was the building of the Gehzouba hydroelectric dam that divided the Yangtze River into two sections in 1983 and cut off the migratory route of the paddlefish. The building of the dam is suggested to have cut off their feeding and spawning areas and the building of the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, the Three Gorges Dam, has reduced their habitat further.

Other reasons blamed for pushing the species to the brink of extinction include pollution, over-fishing and the fact female fish do not become sexually mature until the age of seven or eight. Paddlefish have been classified as critically endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species since 1996.  

The problems regarding the reproduction of the fish has meant that no young paddlefish have been spotted since 1995 and the last known sighting of an adult fish was in January 2003. Wei Qiwe of the Yangtze River Fisheries Research institute is hopeful there is still paddlefish that the survey missed and that with human intervention, the reproduction problems may be able to be overcome to avoid extinction.