Journal
CHINESE JOURNAL OF OCEANOLOGY AND LIMNOLOGY
Volume 34, Issue 5, Pages 894-901Publisher
SCIENCE PRESS
DOI: 10.1007/s00343-016-5027-z
Keywords
Chinese sturgeon; Three Gorges Dam; spawning activity; spawning stock; conservation
Categories
Funding
- Three Gorges Project Eco-Environmental Monitoring System [JJ[2015]-010]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31201727]
- China Three Gorges Corporation [0799533]
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Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) is the flagship species of the Changjiang River. The migration route of this species is blocked by the first dam, the Gezhou Dam, and its reproduction is affected by the Three Gorges Dam (TGD), one of the largest dams in the world. We studied the impact of the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) since 2003 on the spawning stock and the natural reproduction of the Chinese sturgeon by using our monitoring data from 1997 to 2013. Results indicate that TGR impoundment has delayed the first spawning dates of the fish from middle-late October to late November, decreased the amount of spawning activities from twice to only once each year, and significantly reduced egg production. In particular, the fish did not demonstrate any spawning activities in 2013. Therefore, TGR impoundment significantly affects the natural reproduction of the fish downstream of the TGD. The spawning stock size of the fish is also predicted to further decrease in the future, which will lead to a risk of population extinction. Ecological regulations must be imposed on decreasing the water temperature to 20 degrees C before mid-October and increasing water discharge downstream of the TGD in October to induce spawning of the Chinese sturgeon.
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