China’s most turbid river gradually becomes greener, but there are not many fish? I’m really surprised to hear the new reason

The Yellow River is known as the Mother River of China, along with the Yangtze River (Changjiang) gave birth to the great Chinese civilization. Hoang Ha is also famous for its dark yellow water flowing violently full of sand and mud. It is known that Hoang Ha is the river with the largest sand content in the country of billions of people.

Each year, Hoang Ha circulates more than 1.6 billion tons of sand. It can be said that every cubic meter of river water contains up to 35kg of sand. The Chinese have a sentence dedicated to the water of the Yellow River: A bowl of water, half a bowl of sand!

But, cloudy water does not mean that the river is dirty, but clear water is not necessarily clean. Although the water of the Yellow River is billowing and turbid, known as China’s angry river, more than 150 species of fish live here.

However, in recent years, the water of the Yellow River has become increasingly clear. However, the fish is significantly less.

Yellow river water is bluer

Through their long lives in the Yellow River, fish species have evolved a special type of gills. It can filter out the sediment in the river water to absorb oxygen.

Fighting the floods of the Yellow River has always been an important task for the whole of China. Over the years, the government has invested a lot of materials and finance. Thanks to that, natural disasters on both sides of the Yellow River are decreasing. But the struggle between the people and the Yellow River may have just begun.

Because in recent years, China has conducted water management of the Yellow River and built many large irrigation projects. Yellow River water quality has been gradually improved by planting trees on the Loess Plateau to reduce soil erosion, reinforcing dykes on both sides of the Yellow River, constructing dams and other water storage projects to block sandy soils. Alluvial. This move of course has affected the growth environment of aquatic species living in the Yellow River, especially fish.

Scientists have designed terraced fields, which can not only grow crops, but also block the sandy soil in the Yellow River, making the river water more clear.

Although the amount of sandy soil in the water of the Yellow River is decreasing significantly and the water quality has improved, why is the amount of fish in the water not increasing but decreasing?

Turbid water becomes clear, the number of fish decreases

Most people think that clear water is more beneficial for fish life, but that is not the case, clear river water is not necessarily the best environment for fish to grow.

Moreover, people living on both sides of the river release exotic red and silverfish species, which greatly affects the habitat of native fishes.

And yet, human fishing activities take place excessively, destroying the ecological environment, polluting water sources, building dams, leading to fewer and fewer fish.

Although the water of the Yellow River was very cloudy in the past, the water quality is still good and it is evident that the fish have grown in abundance. This place is famous for Hoang Ha shrimp, sawfish, carp… The water of the Yellow River contains a lot of minerals, which are beneficial for the growth of fish and shrimp.

Many fish species in the Yellow River have migratory habits. The authorities built dams, which also means that their migration routes have been blocked. Many fish species have also lost their spawning grounds, causing the number of fish to decrease year by year.

Although dam construction benefits residents on both sides of the Yellow River, it has many impacts on the normal survival of fish, which in the long run will lead to a natural decline in fish populations. course.

Thereby, it is extremely urgent to protect and balance the Yellow River ecosystem.