Was the discharge not carried out properly, or should the farmed fish not have been there in the first place?
The Yangtze is the remaining habitat for the critically endangered wild Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis), which is now under even greater ecological threat after thousands of tons of farmed sturgeon were washed downstream when a reservoir in Hubei controversially discharged flood waters into the river.
The flood discharge, according to media reports, happened on the night of July 19. The sheer quantity of lost farmed sturgeon, around 9,800 tons, not only outnumbers the native endangered Chinese sturgeon by a large magnitude, but may even exceed the total biomass for the river downstream of the fish farms.
Experts told the media that the escaped sturgeons were mostly non-native or cross-bred which could destroy the ecological niche of the wild sturgeon in the Yangtze River by invading their habitat and competing for food.
Worse, experts are worried that it will cause genetic pollution if the non-native or cross-bred sturgeon interbreed with the native species.
Despite two months of investigation, experts have yet to clarify how big an impact the escaped farmed sturgeon will have on the overall ecology of the Yangtze River.
Netizens, however, concerned more about the responsibility of relevant local government departments, are questioning whether the flood discharge was conducted with advanced notice, and also whether the farming of non-native and cross-bred sturgeon had been proved safe by experts before the farming began.