China Dumps Billion Fish Into Drying Land With No Water, Result Shocked Everyone

0:00 The Yangze, a 3,900 m long waterway, is the world's third longest river. It flows through the heart of China, crossing 11 provinces, sustaining land, factories, and cities. But one day, the water vanished. Its level dropped to a historic low, exposing the mighty river's bed. Where life once thrived, only mud and stones remained. Millions of fish died. They simply suffocated from lack of oxygen. That's when the Chinese government decided to take action. This is the story of how they released hundreds of millions of fish into the drying land. But let's start with coffee. [Music] An unobtrusive reminder to do that thing under the video. In April 2011, a

0:47 drought began in China. It didn't hit all at once, but it quickly became the worst in half a century since the drought during the great Chinese famine of 1959 to 1961. Back then, nature whimsy combined with socopolitical upheaval led to the deaths of 15 to 55 million people, but we'll talk about that another time. Well, in April 2011, the middle and lower stretches of the Yang Sea, the region that gives life to bread and fish, shrank to a record low. At the time, both farming and fishing took a hit with tens of thousands of families depending on the latter. Over 244 million acres of farmland were destroyed. More than 1300 lakes fed by the Yang Sea were pronounced dead, useless for drinking or watering crops.

1:32 Around 5 million people and countless livestock were left high and dry. You've got to understand the Yangze Delta is China's vital waterway supporting 400 million people and 40% of the economy. When the river ran dry, it hit everybody hard. 34 million people affected. 14.9 billion yuon or $2.3 billion in direct losses. Something had to be done about it. So once the water receded, they brought out the missiles. The authorities launched about 36 cloud seating operations hoping to summon rain. And in some places, it actually worked. Rainfall even topped 2 in, which counts as heavy rain. But it wasn't enough for a real fix. In places where the drought was milder, the water brought the soil back to life. But where

2:18 the cracks had already spread, the rain was too light to fix the situation. And in some of the hardest hit areas, it didn't change a thing. Yeah, the soil got a little darker, the air fresher, but that's it. The clouds didn't play along either. They moved too fast or drifted off in the wrong direction, anywhere but where people needed them. And you can't just make rain without clouds. That's physically impossible. Meanwhile, meteorologists warned there would be no rain until the end of the month and the heat would reach 97° F. They urgently needed to find another way to beat the drought. When it became clear that the clouds wouldn't help, people decided to use what they could actually control, the Three Gorgeous Dam, the most massive hydroelectric project on the planet. The

3:04 National Drought Relief Agency ordered to open the floodgates and increase water discharge by 10 to 20%. This might seem like a small increase, but we're talking about 1.3 trillion gallons a day, a volume equal to England's Lake Windermir. All of it was sent downstream along the Yank Sea, right to where fields were dying without moisture. The solution was simple and effective. But the weather had other plans. In early June, long-awaited torrential rains hit southern China. They poured almost non-stop. Week after week, instead of relief from the drought, the provinces were struck by a natural disaster. Water flooded farmland, washed away roads, and breached dams, landslides began in the mountains. In the end, nearly 700,000 people had to be evacuated, and over a

3:51 hundred lost their lives. This flood was the worst in decades. Since 1955, the country hadn't faced such a devastating disaster. Be that as it may, the water returned to the Yang Sea, but much too late. The Yangtze River Basin is home to over a thousand species, more than 370 species of fish, over 220 species of bottom dwelling animals, and hundreds of aquatic plants. It's an entire world hidden beneath the surface, and the drought practically wiped it out. The ecosystem suffered not only in the Yangy itself, but also in the numerous lakes connected to it. In the riverbed, where boats could still float, the water only reached knee deep. The boats struggled to move forward and often ran ground. Some lakes had dried up completely and where water still remained, the depth

4:37 was no more than 3 ft. The water was murky, warm, and smelled of fish and decay. Lake Shiu, which usually held up to 33 ft of water and nearly dried up. The surface was cracked, and some places the gap stretched 3 to 3 and 1/2 in wide. Between them lay dead snails, scraps of aquatic plants, and the fish carcasses. Keep in mind, the spawning season was approaching, the time when the river and lakes usually came alive, and a new cycle of life began in the shallows. But the shallows were simply gone. The lakes disappeared, leaving no place to lay eggs and no refuge for the surviving fish. With the fish gone, the birds vanished, too. The smaller migratory ones suffered the most. They fed on fry, and there were hardly any left. Hoyang Lake, once vast and

5:25 shrouded in mist, now looks more like a prairie. flat land covered with short grass. And though there was hope the water would return, experts quickly warned it wouldn't be enough. The ecosystem doesn't bounce back in just one season. For these waters to come alive again, it wasn't enough to wait for rain. They had to restore the diversity of fish, plants, algae, and other bottom dwelling life. These guys were a particular concern. The Yangze finless porpus. There are rare freshwater whale species that only live in China's Yangze River and are on the brink of extinction. When they were last counted in 2022, the population was 1,249. As you might guess, the 2011 drought didn't do them any favors. First, the water levels dropped sharply, leaving the porpuses stranded on shore with no

6:11 way back. Plus, like I said, the fish couldn't spawn anymore, which in turn affected the porposes. I mean, sure, they can adapt to different diets, but the river was almost completely dead. Hard to pick something from an empty fridge. To somehow compensate for the losses, in 2011, China decided to release about 1.3 billion tiny fish into the Yang Sea. 1 bill300 million, a mind-boggling amount. The goal was simple, to restore the fishing resources the river had lost after the drought. The project was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture together with five provinces, Xiang Xi, Hube, Hunan, Anui, and Xiang Su. These are the regions along the middle and lower reaches of the Yang Sea and they provide almost half of the country's freshwater fish. They mainly released

6:57 four species of fish into the river. Black and grass carp, chubs, and big head carp. These species have been eaten since ancient times, dating back to the Tang Dynasty. That is around the 7th to 10th centuries AD. And even today, they make up the bulk of what Chinese fishermen catch in the rivers. But besides these four species, over 500,000 Chinese perch, small-scale yellow fin, and even some puffer fish were also released. The whole release operation cost about $300,000 yuon, or around $46,000 at the time. But the Yangze didn't just get fish back. The next step was reintroducing underwater macrofits, plants that grow at different depths and help keep the water clean and balanced. In total, around 22,230 acres of various plants were planted to restore the natural balance after the

7:44 drought. The thing is, with the water level dropping, there were way too many nutrients in the river, and the water started blooming. You've probably seen what that looks like. And when the water blooms, oxygen levels drop, making it impossible for life to survive. Along with the plants, they also release 21 million mollisks into the water. They help clean it, too. In this sense, mollisks and macrofites work together like a filter and a sponge. They soak up the excess and filter what's left. In these conditions, the fish released into the river will have a much easier time settling in. But before releasing the fish back into the river, they first need to be raised somewhere. Let's take a closer look at how this works using the Chinese sturgeon as an example. This is an ancient fish that's becoming increasingly rare in the wild, so humans have stepped in to help. The process is

8:31 pretty simple. Scientists caught wild sturgeons from the Yang Sea, started breeding them in captivity, and now the descendants of those fish, the so-called second generation, are raised in artificial conditions. For example, at the Chinese Sturgeon Conservation Center in Jinxo, there's a special house. It's round, 131 ft in diameter, and almost 16 ft deep. Basically, it's a big room for big fish. An adult sturgeon can grow up to 13 ft long, and needs plenty of space. That's why the big fish live in big rooms and the little ones stay in small ones. The young fish are raised in stages. At first, the fry are kept in small land-based pools like an incubator. Everything's controlled there. Temperature, water, composition, lighting, because small Chinese sturgeon

9:16 are very finicky, which is why wellwater is used. It has fewer minerals and a steady temperature. And later, once the fish grow bigger, they're moved to open ponds closer to natural conditions. This is called re wilding. The fish learn to live like they would in a river. But this isn't the final stage yet. Before returning to the Yang Sea, the sturgeons go through an adjustment period in a special holding pond. The water there is filtered straight from the river so the fish can get used to their new environment in advance. The water's oxygenated and the sturgeon's behavior is monitored. Basically, it's all about making sure the fish aren't just released into the river, they're sent home. But even if something suddenly happens to the sturgeons, they won't just disappear. For species like the Chinese sturgeon, sometimes called the water

10:02 panda, to highlight its importance to the country, they've created a kind of backup. The species has existed for over 140 million years. But human interference in the 20th century hit its population hard. To prevent the sturgeon from vanishing completely, several conservation programs are in place. At their core, they're something like a global seed vault, only it was created for seed samples. And here we have living creatures. One of these vaults is located at the Chinese Sturgeon Conservation Center, and the other is run by the Three Gorgeous Corporation. They even launched a program called Noah's Ark, aimed at preserving the gene pool of rare Yangy fish, including the sturgeon. Of course, the Ark has everything. Tissue samples, cells, DNA, and biological material to restore the species. The biioaterial is frozen in

10:49 liquid nitrogen at minus 321° F where it can peacefully sleep for years. Well, and when it's time to reproduce, you can use it, combine it with the eggs, and raise a new generation. It's a backup plan in case the environment is totally ruined. And even now, things don't look that good. After the huge drought, expectations were skyhigh. They released tens of millions of fish back into the Yank Sea, but it didn't do much. or rather it didn't turn things around completely because the fish population in the Yangy just kept shrinking. The first warning signs appeared when fishermen started complaining their nets were barely catching any of the usual hall. For example, the yellow cheek, a common commercial fish, had practically vanished. The numbers tell the story. In 1954, the Yankees catch was 430,000

11:37 tons. Then it started dropping. By the 1960s, it was around 260,000 tons. By the 1980s, 200,000 and by the 1990s, half that. In 2011, the catch fell below 100,000 tons. The drought played a role, of course, and if it weren't for restocking efforts, the numbers might have dropped to zero. But the fact remains, the fish population isn't growing. And in 2019, experts noted that not a single Chinese sturgeon, white sturgeon, or Bai dolphin even attempted to reproduce. The paddlefish was nowhere to be found. By then, it had already been missing for 17 years. Today, the species is officially declared extinct. Meanwhile, the Yangy isn't just a river. It's a living gan bank. And this gan bank clearly needs replenishing.

12:26 So, the Yangy isn't being ignored. In fact, fish are regularly released back into the river, not just once after a drought, but year after year. Since 2011, over 70 million fish have been released in the Wansau area alone. These aren't just rare species. They're also commercial ones that matter for the whole ecosystem. And by the way, the impact wasn't just ecological. People started to better understand why protecting aquatic animals even matters. There's even a special date, June 6th. It's an unofficial holiday, National Fish Release Day, celebrated since 2003. And the date isn't random. It's right when the breeding season starts. The water's warmer, the fish are more active, so their chances of survival are higher. For example, in 2023, 850,000

13:13 rare fish were released into the Yangze River from a park in Yi. Nine of these species are endemic. Among them is the dabri sturgeon, which is under top level protection in China. Next is the Chinese sucker, also an endangered species, plus two more species from the carp family. Rhinobia ventrolles and corus guchinati are protected by the state though slightly less strictly. To understand what happens to these fish after release, specialists implant special tags in them. This way they can figure out where they swim, how well they adapt, and so on. And if it turns out something's not working, they can make adjustments for the next release. So yes, the fish are returned to the water. But it's not just a symbolic move. It's a way to preserve the river's biodiversity. Without it, the Yang Sea

13:58 has no future. But simply releasing fish isn't enough. It's crucial that the fish released into the river have time to grow and reproduce. So, in 2020, China made a tough but necessary call, a fishing ban on the Yank Sea completely. At first, it applied to 332 nature reserves and protected zones. But a year later, the ban expanded to the river's main stem and all major tributaries. Fishing has been banned for 10 years. That should be enough time for the populations to recover by at least two or three generations. For example, most carp species take up to four years to mature, so a seasonal ban just isn't enough. Many found this measure cruel. In just the first month, over a 100,000 boats were seized, affecting more than 200,000 people. By the way, some of the inspectors now chasing down violators

14:45 used to be fishermen themselves, but I guess they turned out to be really upstanding citizens and decided to enforce the law. Or maybe they just saw a chance to make some money. Who knows? But they have to patrol the river every single day. There are even night raids with night vision gear. They've got drones, too. In short, serious resources are being thrown at enforcing the ban because people just won't stop fishing illegally. They have to be stopped. Sadly, waiting and hoping isn't an option. The Yank Sea is already at its limits. Over fishing, pollution, and damning up rivers, including the Three Gorges Dam, have done their damage. And if nothing's done, in 10 years, releasing fish into the river will be pointless. Well, for those worried that people might suffer from a lack of fish, there's good news. The Yang Sea provides

15:30 less than 1% of the country's freshwater fish. So, the ban won't affect the market at all, but it will affect the river. It's too early to talk about long-term changes, but there's already some positive impact. Population numbers, biodiversity, you get the idea. So, the fishing ban was a decision that had to happen sooner or later, especially since releasing fish hasn't been as simple as expected. Journalists from the Shinhua Daily Telegraph who traveled along the Yangze regions found that nobody really knows how to release fish properly, what exactly does the river need, how many fish, which species, and what's the proper way to do it. For some reason, no one has any answers. Instead, there are reports with nicel lookinging numbers and tons of fry released just to tick the box. In some places, it's tens of thousands of fish. In others, millions. Sometimes they even

16:18 released non-native species that the Yangy doesn't need. Or they just took the cheapest fry of the four main carp species just to meet the quota. Meanwhile, any body of water has its limits, meaning there can't be more fish than the ecosystem can handle. Ideally, we should just replenish what's missing. But instead, it seems like everyone releases the fish however they want. government, private companies, volunteers, even just random but very responsible people. There's no clear accounting, so it's impossible to tell how stocking even affects the Yang Sea. So, it turns out that some species might disappear simply because everyone forgot about them, while others multiply like crazy. The balance they wanted to restore is wrecked again, and all because there were no proper studies from the start. They just started fixing

17:03 the river by guesswork. Now imagine if uncontrolled fishing kept going in all this chaos. Yeah, the ban might not be such a bad call after all. You owe me a like. See you later.