What price eco-tourism? 6,000 Chinese sturgeon die during construction of ‘green’ resort
- Deaths of critically endangered fish, 36 of them among first to be artificially bred, caused by stress, report says
- After 140 million years on Earth, species has been pushed to brink of extinction by pollution, overfishing and dam building along its native Yangtze River
Authorities in China are investigating the unnatural deaths over the past year of more than 6,000 critically endangered Chinese sturgeon at a breeding facility, apparently as a result of the construction of a nearby eco-tourism resort, according to local media reports.
Since the start of this year, 36 mature fish, aged over 20, and about 6,000 younger ones, aged up to two, have died at the Hengsheng aqua-farm in Jingzhou, central China’s Hubei province, Thepaper.cn reported on Sunday.
A panel appointed by the provincial fisheries bureau said the deaths were “directly linked to the shocks, noises and changes of water sources” caused by the construction of the Jinan Eco-cultural Tourism Zone.
In response to that claim, the ministry of agriculture urged the local government to do all it could to ensure the safety of the endangered species.
Native to the Yangtze River, the Chinese sturgeon is almost extinct in the wild due to pollution, overfishing and the construction of massive dams. It now depends on artificial breeding for its survival.
China launched its breeding programme in the 1970s when scientists noticed a steep decline in numbers of the fish, which can be traced back about 140 million years.