Three Gorges opens gates to release water for fish breeding for the first time

Southern Rural Daily report: The Yangtze Flood Control and Drought Relief General Headquarters of the Ministry of Water Resources recently issued a notice requiring the Three Gorges Group Corporation to increase the discharge flow for 6 consecutive days starting from June 16, creating an "artificial flood peak" to create a favorable environment for the breeding and spawning of the four major Chinese carps downstream. According to experts, this discharge differs from previous flood control and drought relief operations; it is the first time a large-scale hydropower project in China, including the Three Gorges, has opened its gates to release water for the survival needs of fish.

The Yangtze River is the main natural origin of China's four major Chinese carps, but after the completion of the Three Gorges Reservoir area, the number of juvenile four major Chinese carps below the Three Gorges Dam has decreased significantly. Guo Qiaoyu, an expert with The Nature Conservancy's Yangtze River conservation program, explained that this is because the spawning activity of the four major Chinese carps not only requires stimulation from natural environmental conditions such as the flood peak process of river water fluctuation, but also the eggs produced need water flow at a certain velocity to hatch and develop into juvenile fish. Therefore, after the Three Gorges Reservoir impounded water and the flow slowed down, the spawning of the four major Chinese carps was affected. To increase the spawning volume of the four major Chinese carps, it is necessary to provide artificial flood peaks during their breeding period to maintain a continuous water-rising process in the middle and lower reaches of the river.

It is understood that on April 12 of this year, the Yangtze River Fisheries Resource Management Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture wrote to the Three Gorges Group Corporation, proposing to carry out ecological scheduling during the fish breeding period to release water for the four major Chinese carps. (China Youth)