STUDIES ON STATUS OF FISHERY RESOURCES IN THREE GORGES RESERVOIR REACHES OF THE YANGTZE RIVER

From 1997 to 2000, a survey on the fishery status was taken in Banan and Wanzhou sections in the Yangtze River. A total of 1292 boats were investigated, 4096.38kg fish were captured and 2464 tails of fish were measured. Fishes of 8 families, 24 genera and 30 species were collected. In comparison with the data gotten in 1970s, the catch species and composition had changed much recently. The abundance of Varicorhinus (Onychostoma) simus (sauvage et Dabry,) Barbodes (Spinibarbus) sinensin (Bleeker), Procypris rabaudi (Tchang) and Coreius heterodon (Bleeker) had been decreasing. Some fishes such as Ochetobius elongatus (kner), Plagiognathops microlepis (Bleeker), Elopichthys bambusa (Richardson), Parabramis pekinensis (Basilewsky) had disappeared. While the number of Silurus soldatovi meridionalis Chen, Cypprinus carpio Linnaeus and Pseudobagrus fulvidraco (Richardson) had been increasing. In catches, the number of low aged fish had been getting more and high aged fish getting less, which shows the fishery resources in the Yangtze Three Gorges Reservoir Region is declining, and the main reason is overfishing.