In the upper reaches of the Yangtze, where glacial waters still carry the memory of the Quaternary period, lives one of the rarest fish on the planet — the Sichuan taimen. This relict species, also known as the Sichuan taimen (Hucho bleekeri), has survived millennia, but today it teeters on the brink of extinction. Recently, four Chinese government agencies — the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Ecology, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration — jointly approved the "Action Plan for the Rescue of the Sichuan Taimen for the Years 2026–2035."
The document divides the work into two phases. In the next five years, the goal is to halt the decline of natural populations, double the area of key habitats, and release at least five thousand individuals into the wild annually, with a survival rate exceeding thirty percent. By 2035, the range should double again, and the number of wild fish should increase twofold. To this end, seven main directions are planned: monitoring and rescue of natural groups, protection and restoration of habitats, preservation of genetic diversity, improvement of artificial breeding technologies, reconstruction of natural populations, control of activities in water bodies, and educational outreach.
The Sichuan taimen is the apex predator of the upper Yangtze. Its condition serves as a kind of indicator of the health of the entire river ecosystem. Just as a sensitive barometer shows changes in climate and water quality, this fish reflects how stable the entire chain from plankton to large predators is. The disappearance of the species would mean not just the loss of one inhabitant, but a signal of a profound imbalance affecting both other species and the people who depend on the river.
The plan includes strict measures for regulating water use, strengthening legal protection, and interagency coordination. Particular attention is paid to the genetic bank and artificial reproduction to preserve the diversity accumulated over millions of years of evolution. Such steps are important not only for the fish itself, but also for understanding the ancient climatic processes that scientists study through the remains and genomes of relict species.
Over ten years, Chinese specialists intend to turn scattered efforts into a systematic program, where each stage is backed by funding, scientific data, and oversight. This is not just about saving one fish, but an attempt to return to the river its ancient guardian and thereby strengthen the resilience of an entire region.
