SHEN Yihang: A Young Man in Guilin, Guangxi Was Beaten up by a Group of "Flying Fish" While Catching Them! Behind This Is the Population Crisis of Wild Grass Carp | CBCGDF Reports

On September 11, 2024, a young man in Guilin City, Guangxi Province, went to the pond to catch fish to celebrate his grandfather's birthday. Unexpectedly, he was "attacked" by "flying fish" while catching fish. The one who attacked him was a vegetarian, the "vegetarian champion" grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) that feeds on aquatic plants.

Most of the grass carp we eat nowadays are farmed. In fact, as an important freshwater farmed fish in my country, the survival status of its wild population is becoming increasingly severe. In recent years, the number of wild grass carp populations has dropped sharply. For a long time, overfishing of grass carp has been the main reason for the decline in its population. Human activities such as water pollution, water reclamation, and hydropower development have led to the loss and degradation of grass carp habitats.

Some people may ask: Since we have so many farmed fish, why do we still need to protect wild grass carp populations? This is mainly because the genes of farmed fish will gradually degenerate during the process of artificial breeding. Prof. CAO Wenxuan, a famous fish biologist & academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that fish must rely on wild fish eggs for reproduction during the breeding process, and Yangtze River fish, as an important gene bank for the four major carps, are crucial to maintaining the genetic diversity and health of fish. If we do not protect these wild gene banks, we may face a situation of serious genetic degradation or even "no fish to eat" in the future.

(This article only represents the views of the original author and does not represent the views of the CBCGDF Media platform.)

Original article:https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ipx5bXQBiFJOcTUh-T00CA

Translator: Daisy

Checked by Sara

Editor: Daisy

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