The Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS) (;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: Zhōngguó shuǐchǎn Kēxuéyánjiūyuàn) is a large fisheries research institute. It was founded in 1978 under the

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

in the People's Republic of China. It is a leading research institution in China, active in almost all research areas to do with

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

and marine and freshwater

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

.Chinese Academy of Fishery Science (CAFS)
''NOAA''. Retrieved 21 July 2011. CAFS sponsors the award-winning international academic periodical ''Journal of Fishery Sciences of China''. It has completed over 1,000 research projects, including a study on the aquaculture of the fleshy prawn '' Peneaus chinensis'' and the control of haemorrhage disease in

grass carp The grass carp (''Ctenopharyngodon idella'') is a species of large herbivorous freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae, native to the Pacific Far East, with a native range stretching from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Sino-Russian ...

, which won the National Scientific and Technological Progress First Prize. The institute has contributed significantly to China's aquaculture development.

Activities

Aquaculture has been pursued in China for at least 2,400 years. A tract by

Fan Li Fan Li () from the Spring and Autumn period, was an ancient Chinese military strategist, politician, and businessman. Fàn Li was an important political and military advisor to Goujian, the king of Yue. He later was known as Tao Zhu Gong (陶� ...

in the fifth century BC details many of the ways

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

were raised in

ponds A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from th ...

. The major carp species used traditionally in Chinese aquaculture are the

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

and

bighead carp The bighead carp (''Hypophthalmichthys nobilis'') is a species of cyprinid freshwater fish native to East Asia, and is one of several Asian carps introduced into North America. It is one of the most intensively exploited fishes in fish farming, ...

. In the 1950s, the Pearl River Fishery Research Institute of CAFS made a technological breakthrough in the induced

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

of these carps, which has resulted in a rapid expansion of freshwater aquaculture in China.CAFS research achievement
''CAFS''. Accessed 26 July 2011. In the late 1990s, CAFS scientists developed a new variant of the

common carp The Eurasian carp or European carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), widely known as the common carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Arkive The ...

called the Jian carp. This succulent fish grows rapidly and has a high

feed conversion rate In animal husbandry, feed conversion ratio (FCR) or feed conversion rate is a ratio or rate measuring of the efficiency with which the bodies of livestock convert animal feed into the desired output. For dairy cows, for example, the output is ...

. Over 50% of the total aquaculture production of carp in China has now converted to Jian carp. The

Chinese sturgeon The Chinese sturgeon (''Acipenser sinensis''; ) is a critically endangered member of the family Acipenseridae in the order Acipenseriformes. Historically, this anadromous fish was found in China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula, but it has b ...

is an endangered species native to China. It is strictly protected by the Chinese government, who have declared it a national treasure. The Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of CAFS is breeding sturgeons in captivity in an attempt to restore the river population before the species disappears. Some success has been claimed from artificial inducement for spawning and stream discharge for incubation. During the course of the project, 5 million fish bred in captivity have been released into the wild. In 2005, to mark the twentieth anniversary of China's efforts to protect the species, 10,000 sturgeon fry, 200 junior sturgeon and two adult fish were released into the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

Yichang Yichang (), alternatively romanized as Ichang, is a prefecture-level city located in western Hubei province, China. It is the third largest city in the province after the capital, Wuhan and the prefecture-level city Xiangyang, by urban populati ...

. However, in 2007, 14 young sturgeon were surveyed near the mouth of Yangtze compared with 600 the year before, causing concern that the battle was being lost in the crowded and polluted Yangtze River.Scientists sound alarm as Chinese sturgeon battle for survival
''FIS'', 24 July 2007.

Structure

CAFS has its headquarters in Beijing. Across China, it operates nine fisheries research institutes and four fisheries resources enhancement stations.
''Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences''. Retrieved 25 July 2011.

Some associated publications

* Chen D, Duan X, Liu S and Shi W (2003

In: Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on the Management of Large Rivers for Fisheries. FAO Corporate Document Repository. * Yulin J (1996

In: ''Health management in Asian aquaculture'', FAO Corporate Document Repository. .

Notes

External links

* Russian article
Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences
main web site {{authority control Fisheries and aquaculture research institutes

Activities

Structure

Some associated publications

See also

Notes

External links