Jimu News reporter Ma Weihong
Correspondent Wang Xiaoling
Poster Design Wang Ying
The Yangtze River flows eastward for thousands of miles, giving birth to thousands of aquatic creatures. As an ancient migratory fish that has existed for hundreds of millions of years, the Chinese sturgeon is known as the "giant panda in the water" and is the core "living fossil" of the ecological health of the Yangtze River. The banks of the Yangtze River used to be quiet and quiet, with clear and transparent water. The complete natural coastline provided an excellent home for Chinese sturgeons to migrate and breed for generations.
As industrial development along the river advances, shoreline disturbance and water area disturbance continue to intensify, and the living space of ancient creatures continues to be squeezed. Protecting the Chinese sturgeon migration channel is to protect the biodiversity of the Yangtze River and the ecological foundation of the basin.
Migration Dilemma: The survival dilemma of ancient sturgeons
The Xiaoting section of the Yangtze River in Yichang City, Hubei Province has gentle water flow and intact ecology. It is an important resting and breeding area for Chinese sturgeons. Long-term riverside operations and hardened shoreline development have destroyed the original environment of the waters, disturbed fish habitats, and seriously hindered the normal migration and reproduction of Chinese sturgeons.
The Chinese sturgeon is extremely demanding on its living environment, and clean water and stable shorelines are essential conditions for its survival. The Xiaoting old oil depot of PetroChina Hubei Sales Company was completed and put into operation in 2010. It has laid a solid backing for ensuring the supply of refined oil in western Hubei for many years. However, due to historical planning, the reservoir area and supporting docks are located in the core protected area of the Chinese sturgeon, less than 20 kilometers away from the only spawning habitat, guarding key migration channels.
After the completion of the Gezhouba Dam, the natural spawning grounds of the Chinese sturgeon in the upper reaches have completely disappeared. This downstream section has become the only remaining core breeding area. The ecological value is irreplaceable. The ecological risks of riverside operations are contrary to the concept of Yangtze River protection.
Ecological choice: retreating shoreline to make way for sturgeons
In order to restore the ecological texture of the river bank and give the Chinese sturgeon a clean and smooth life corridor, the local government and enterprises resolutely implemented the concept of "jointly focusing on comprehensive protection and not engaging in large-scale development", based on the overall ecological situation, decisively made relocation choices, and "retired" the oil depot in exchange for "advancing" the Yangtze River ecology.
Far away from the ecological protection zone, PetroChina relocated its site in Yaojiagang Chemical Park, Dongshi Town, Zhijiang City, about 35 kilometers away from the original Yichang oil depot. It spent huge sums of money to build a new oil depot area, wharf (including barges), and a pipeline corridor between the oil depot and the wharf. At the same time, we will upgrade the production process and environmental protection facilities, completely bid farewell to the river-side operation model, and eliminate the risk of ecological pollution from the source.
Guo Jie, director of PetroChina Yichang Oil Depot, said that the overall relocation investment was huge, and employees' commuting has changed from a convenient urban area to a remote new location, making daily work and life inconvenient. However, all employees unanimously believe that opening up a complete migration channel for Chinese sturgeons is worth all the efforts.
This demolition and restoration work strictly adheres to the ecological bottom line throughout the entire process, insisting on zero water pollution, zero garbage legacy, and zero ecological disturbance. For the 200-ton giant reinforced concrete foundation on the slope of the crude oil depot embankment, the traditional crushing and excavation process was abandoned, and the sawing method was innovatively used to accurately split and transfer it in batches. This completely eliminated problems such as gravel falling into the water, bank slope damage, dust pollution, etc., completely preserving the original landform of the river bank, and creating a high-quality model for ecological restoration of the Yangtze River coastline.
The wharf and warehouse area where machines roared in the past has been restored to green. The riverbanks are lush with vegetation and the river is crystal clear, recreating the ecological beauty of clear water, green banks, and habitat for living creatures.
Scientific research: breeding to continue the fire of life
The receding and greening of the shoreline has cleared away man-made obstacles to the migration of Chinese sturgeons. In view of the plight of sparse wild populations and difficulties in natural breeding, scientific research has become a key support for the survival of the species.
On January 13 this year, great news came from the Three Gorges Corporation Yangtze River Biodiversity Research Center. my country's first batch of fully artificially bred third-generation Chinese sturgeon fry successfully passed the fragile period and grew stably. This batch of fry broke through in November 2025, with a total of 112,000 fry. They survived for more than two months and the average weight exceeded 100 grams, marking a breakthrough in the third-generation large-scale breeding of Chinese sturgeons.
The scientific research team accurately simulates the natural river and sea migration environment of Chinese sturgeons, scientifically regulates core elements such as water temperature, water flow, light, and nutrition to reduce the stress response of fry, improves the all-artificial group breeding technology system, and achieves the scientific research results of "breeding three generations in 40 years", effectively solving the problem of dependence on wild germplasm resources, and laying a solid technical foundation for population recovery.
Today, artificially bred Chinese sturgeon fry are gradually released into the river and travel up the river in groups, continuing the migratory legend of hundreds of millions of years in the clear river. The relocation of the reservoir area will make way for ecological channels, scientific research and breeding will continue the fire of life, and two-way efforts will inject vitality into the recovery of the Chinese sturgeon population.
In the future, as ecological protection continues to deepen, the ancient creatures of the Yangtze River will continue to multiply and thrive.
