China plans to adopt measures to help the endangered aquatic creatures in the Yangtze River adapt to new circumstances, an official from China's Ministry of Agriculture said Wednesday.

A ministry investigation revealed that changes would occur in China's longest river after the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, which cuts the river in half at the middle reaches.

The creation of the vast dam might bring significant changes to the river's speed, temperature and even quality upper stream and downstream the dam, which might negatively affect the lives of the endangered species like the white dolphin, Chinese sturgeon and Chinese paddlefish, said a report on the investigation.

Guo Yan, an official with the aquatic wildlife protection office of the ministry, said China has set an objective to offset those negative impacts through artificial breeding and putting the rare aquatic species' fries in the river.

According to the statistics from the ministry, China has released 6.3 million Chinese sturgeon fries in the Yangtze River from artificial breeding centers since 1983.

In the three consecutive years from 1999 to 2002, the country had released 300,000 big sturgeon fries longer than 10 centimeters each.

China also imposed a full commercial fishing ban on the Yangtze River in the spring and summer season this year, prohibiting the commercial sales of the wildlife in the river.

The methods have helped increase the total number of rare fishes in the river, Guo said, mentioning the sensational events at the end of last year when two huge Chinese paddlefish were captured by accident in separate incidents.

The fish had been long thought extinct.

Guo revealed that China would intensify the national scheme for restocking endangered aquatic species in the Yangtze River at the end of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2003)