Chinese Paddlefish and wild Yangtze Sturgeon extinct

HONG KONG: The extinction of the Chinese Paddlefish and wild Yangtze Sturgeon, declared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, unleashed a torrent of comments on China's social media platforms on Friday urging more environmental protection. The IUCN's latest list of threatened species, published on its website on Thursday, showed that 100% of the world's remaining 26 sturgeon species are now at risk of extinction, up from 85% in 2009. "The assessments are based on new calculations which show their decline over the past three generations to be steeper than previously thought," the conservation group said, adding that the reassessment had also confirmed the extinction of the Chinese Paddlefish. Both the Chinese Paddlefish and the Yangtze Sturgeon were common species in the Yangzte river basin which has been plagued by heavy shipping traffic, overfishing and water pollution. The Chinese Paddlefish was one of the world's biggest freshwater fish species and could grow up to 7 metres in length. China implemented a fishing ban in some parts of the Yangzte river in 2021. "Everyone, support the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, and protect the habitats that are still in the Yangtze River," a user called Lychee said.