Picture at bottom.... last caught in 2002...
If the world's largest freshwater fish still exists, Wei Qiwei will be there to save it.
"I believe it's out there," said Wei, as he scanned the murky Yangtze River from his sleek, 63-foot (19-meter) rescue vessel.
Wei is one of China's foremost experts on the Chinese paddlefish, a leviathan that reportedly can grow 23 feet (7 meters) long and weigh half a ton.
But the odds of finding even a single one of the aquatic giants may be steadily diminishing.
No adult Chinese paddlefish have been caught in the Yangtze River by fishers since 2003. Even more worrisome, no young paddlefish have been seen since 1995.
"When you don't see juveniles, we think maybe there's no spawning," said Wei, who heads a research laboratory at the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute in Jingzhou.
He and other experts fear that even if individual paddlefish are found in the Yangtze, the species itself, if unable to reproduce, could be on an irreversible path to extinction.
Spawning Ground
The Chinese paddlefish is also known as the elephant fish, because its long snout resembles an elephant's trunk.
The predators feed on other fish, as well as small amounts of crab and crayfish.
Prized for their rich, plentiful meat, the giant animals are said to have been commonly offered as gifts to the Chinese emperor during imperial times.
In the 1970s hundreds of paddlefish were caught each year by fishers on the Yangtze River.
Then, in the 1980s, the population dropped dramatically, Wei said.
The culprit for that loss can be found by taking a 20-minute boat ride up the river from the city of Yichang to the giant Gehzouba hydroelectric dam.
The dam, completed in 1983, divided the Yangtze River into two sections, cutting off the migratory route of the paddlefish.
"The paddlefish travel long distances, from their forage grounds in the middle and lower part of the Yangtze Riverand sometimes the coastal watersto their spawning grounds in the upper river," Wei said.
"The dam separated the feeding area from the spawning ground."
The spawning process for paddlefish is particularly sensitive because females do not become sexually mature until they are seven or eight years old, he added.
The newly built Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, which sits 30 miles (48 kilometers) upriver from the Gezhouba Dam, has further reduced paddlefish habitat, Wei said.
Two more dams are now being planned for the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
more... http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070726-china-fish_2.html
If the world's largest freshwater fish still exists, Wei Qiwei will be there to save it.
"I believe it's out there," said Wei, as he scanned the murky Yangtze River from his sleek, 63-foot (19-meter) rescue vessel.
Wei is one of China's foremost experts on the Chinese paddlefish, a leviathan that reportedly can grow 23 feet (7 meters) long and weigh half a ton.
But the odds of finding even a single one of the aquatic giants may be steadily diminishing.
No adult Chinese paddlefish have been caught in the Yangtze River by fishers since 2003. Even more worrisome, no young paddlefish have been seen since 1995.
"When you don't see juveniles, we think maybe there's no spawning," said Wei, who heads a research laboratory at the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute in Jingzhou.
He and other experts fear that even if individual paddlefish are found in the Yangtze, the species itself, if unable to reproduce, could be on an irreversible path to extinction.
Spawning Ground
The Chinese paddlefish is also known as the elephant fish, because its long snout resembles an elephant's trunk.
The predators feed on other fish, as well as small amounts of crab and crayfish.
Prized for their rich, plentiful meat, the giant animals are said to have been commonly offered as gifts to the Chinese emperor during imperial times.
In the 1970s hundreds of paddlefish were caught each year by fishers on the Yangtze River.
Then, in the 1980s, the population dropped dramatically, Wei said.
The culprit for that loss can be found by taking a 20-minute boat ride up the river from the city of Yichang to the giant Gehzouba hydroelectric dam.
The dam, completed in 1983, divided the Yangtze River into two sections, cutting off the migratory route of the paddlefish.
"The paddlefish travel long distances, from their forage grounds in the middle and lower part of the Yangtze Riverand sometimes the coastal watersto their spawning grounds in the upper river," Wei said.
"The dam separated the feeding area from the spawning ground."
The spawning process for paddlefish is particularly sensitive because females do not become sexually mature until they are seven or eight years old, he added.
The newly built Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, which sits 30 miles (48 kilometers) upriver from the Gezhouba Dam, has further reduced paddlefish habitat, Wei said.
Two more dams are now being planned for the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
more... http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07/070726-china-fish_2.html
