It is learnt from the China Three Gorges Corporation on May 5th that the sonar monitoring points at the Yangtze River reach of Jiangyin, which is near the Yangtze River estuary, has captured the sonar signal of some Chinese sturgeons which have been released on April 13th. This means that the Chinese Sturgeon Institute of China Three Gorges Corporation has succeeded in their first attempt to monitor the migration of Chinese sturgeon by using sonar device.

　　It is said that with their parents to be the first generation, the 2000 large-sized juvenile Chinese sturgeons that have been released this year are the second filial generation of artificial reproduction, so they have no marine life experience and the issue of whether they can migrate as the wild Chinese sturgeons do has attracted broad attention. This year, researchers chose 18 from the total Chinese sturgeons to be released and insert in them sonar devices. Meanwhile, researchers arranged 9 sonar monitoring points along the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River to monitor the migration of Chinese sturgeons.

　　After the release, each monitoring points has captured the sonar signals of the migration of Chinese sturgeons many times. According to the signals, these Chinese sturgeons are all swimming towards the ocean with different speed. Some would stay in certain river reaches for a long time, while others would swim through quickly. Apart from sonar devices, the researchers also hanged T-shaped markers at the back of these Chinese sturgeons. Those T-shaped markers look like small bamboo sticks and are easy to be seen.

　　An official from the Chinese Sturgeon Institute says that the results of multiple monitoring methods show that the second filial generation of artificially-bred Chinese sturgeons is capable of migrating to the ocean for growth and development. All these have proved that the artificially-bred Chinese sturgeons have retained the biological nature of wild Chinese sturgeons and that they are of significant importance to the protection of Chinese sturgeons. (Reporter: Liu Chuan’e; correspondent: Wang Donghong)