50 SEPTEMBER 2015 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Status of Natural Resources Documentation of sturgeon in China dates to at least 1104 BC, when sturgeon was described as wang-wei, which means ‘king of fishes.’ More than ten ancient Chinese books mention sturgeons, including descriptions of morphology, habits, distribution, fishing and utilization. Eight species of Acipenseriformes are native to China. Kaluga sturgeon Huso dauricus and Amur sturgeon Acipenser schrenckii are shared with Russia in the Amur River system, and Siberian sturgeon A. baerii and sterlet A. ruthenus with Kazakhstan and Russia in the Irtysh River. Acipenser nudiventris occurs in the Ili River, which is a tributary of Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. The remaining three species, Chinese sturgeon A. sinensis, Dabry’s sturgeon A. dabryanus and Chinese paddlefish Psephurus gladius are endemic to China, particularly the Yangtze River and China Sea (Wei et al. 1997). In the last 50 years, all stocks of sturgeons have declined due to overfishing, construction of hydroelectric dams and pollution. The Pearl River population of A. sinensis and populations of A. dabryanus and Psephurus gladius in the Yangtze River have been severely impacted and consequently all are now listed as first-class, nationally protected animals (Wei et al. 1997). Sturgeon Aquaculture in China As concepts updated and technology developed, driven by restocking programs for sturgeons, the sturgeon industry in China The Sturgeon Aquaculture Industry in China: Difficulties and a Way Out Qiwei Wei and Ping Li shifted successfully from emphasis on the capture fishery to an increased focus on aquaculture over the last 20 years. This change provided benefits to natural population of sturgeons and increased the market. Indeed, sturgeons and paddlefish have become popular culture targets in almost all of the country. The rapid growth of sturgeon culture has led to Chinese dominance of world sturgeon production since 2000. Furthermore, the quantity of cultured caviar quantity in China has become the world’s largest since 2012. Currently, without capture, reproducing wild sturgeon relies chiefly on captive breeding of domestic species. The spawning season has now expanded to fall, winter and early spring, according to market demands (Wei et al. 2004, Li et al. 2009, Wei et al. 2011, Shen et al. 2014). The dominant cultured species and hybrids are Acipenser baerii, Huso dauricus♀× A. schrenckii♂, A. baerii ♀× A. schrenckii♂, A. schrenckii, and A. gueldenstaedtii, which collectively account for 90 percent of total production. Sturgeon farms are now present in all provinces except Xizang, and are located principally in Shandong, Hubei, Sichuan and Chongqing, Beijing. The main culture systems are cage culture (Figs. 1-3) and cement pond culture with flow-through water (Shen et al. 2014). TOP, FIGURE 1. Sturgeon net cages in Qiangdao Lake, Zhejiang Province. MIDDLE, FIGURE 2. Kaluga sturgeon Huso dauricus cultured in Baobazhu Reservoir in Jingjian River, a tributary of the Yangtze River. BOTTOM, FIGURE 3. Kaluga sturgeon Huso dauricus cultured in Geheyan Reservoir in Jingjian River, a tributary of the Yangtze River.
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