First batch of Chinese sturgeons released reach the sea this year

The first batch of Chinese sturgeons released by China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) in 2021 reached the East China Sea on April 27 after travelling 1,800 km, 17 days after its release into the Yangtze River, CTG-affiliated Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute said.

The released Chinese sturgeons are carrying satellite-tracking receivers, which enables the institute to track their whereabouts.

"The fact that they have reached the sea is of great significance to our  groundbreaking study of the marine life of released Chinese sturgeons," said Jiang Wei, chief engineer of Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute.

CTG held the 64th Chinese sturgeon release event on April 10. Among the 10,000 sturgeons released, 16 were implanted with satellite-tracking receivers for the first time aside from the sonar, PIT and T-shaped signalers. All of the 16 sturgeon are above 1.5 meters long, over 50 kg in weight and above ten years old.

Nicknamed "aquatic pandas," Chinese sturgeons spend most of their lives in the sea. Learning their marine life is crucial for the conservation and recovery of the species.

The fact that Chinese sturgeons are scattered widely in the sea has posed a great challenge to the study of their marine life. To further investigate the habitat and how the sturgeons adapt to it, researchers at the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute implanted satellite tags on the large male Chinese sturgeon that are to be released in 2021.

After they reached the sea, researchers will collect the catadromous migration route of Chinese sturgeons and integrate it with the remote sensing images, according to Jiang. Meanwhile, based on the collected data of coastal environmental factors, they will analyze the interaction between environmental elements and the migration of Chinese sturgeons to explore the main factors that may contribute to the migration route planning of Chinese sturgeons, Jiang added.