For the first time in more than 70 years, a Chinese scientific research institution has completed an assessment of fish resources in the source of the Yangtze River

China News Service Xining, January 1 (Reporter Li Jiangning) On the 9th, the reporter learned from the Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that the institute completed and verified the first fish resource assessment of the source of the Yangtze River since 9, when historical data were recorded.

The total fish resources in the source of the Yangtze River were assessed to be 300.24 tons, showing a trend of low in the west and high in the east, slightly lower than the adjacent Jinsha River, Minjiang River (Dadu River) and Yalong River.

The southern source of the Yangtze River taken in August 2021. Photo by China News Service reporter Li Jiangning

The new method proposed in this study has the characteristics of small catch and verifiable evaluation accuracy, which provides an effective reference method for solving the problem of fish resource evaluation of rare and endangered fish in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under the condition of limited data.

It is reported that the current common method for assessing fish stocks is the traditional fishing method. This method requires large-scale fishery capture data and is suitable for the assessment of aquaculture fish stocks. However, for indigenous fish species, large-scale fishing can have a negative impact on their survival, reproduction and welfare. In the absence of large-scale fishing with limited data, there is no effective method for accurate assessment and verification of indigenous fish stocks, other than sonar detection and environmental DNA methods.

In the Qinghai basin of the source of the Yangtze River, the fish resources in the Qinghai basin of the source of the Yangtze River have not been accurately recorded since 1950, due to the lack of navigation conditions for sonar detection and the strong uncertainty of the relationship between environmental DNA concentration and fish resources.

Qinghai is located in the western part of China, where the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lancang River (Mekong River) all originate, and is known as the "Water Tower of China". (ENDS)