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The Hubei fishery was at the heart of a sturgeon breeding project in China
Construction in an ecotourism zone in China has reportedly resulted in the death of 6,000 Chinese sturgeons in critical danger of extinction.
A bridge in Hubei Province was under construction near a farm on the Yangtze River that raised fish alive a long time.
A Chinese news site said the deaths were "directly related to shocks, noises, and changes in water sources."
All work has been interrupted while investigations are in progress.
The Chinese sturgeon dates back more than 140 million years. Individual fish can grow up to 5 m long and live up to 60 years, but spawn only a few times during their lifetime.
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The species is about to disappear in the wild because of pollution, overfishing – for its meat and eggs, sold as caviar – and environmental changes such as the vast hydroelectric dams that straddle the Yangtze, blocking access to their spawning grounds.
China launched a breeding program in the 1970s to save the species. It is currently estimated that there are about 1,000 adult fish in the country.
The Hengshang Aquafarm near Jingzhou was an essential part of this program.
But since the beginning of the year, more than 6,000 sturgeon babies have been reported dead, as well as 36 fish aged 20 years or older.
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The fish are known to be very sensitive to noise and disturbance and the Thepaper.cn information site, quoted by farm officials, said the fish had been upset by nearby construction, sometimes jumping from the water. # 39; water.
The Chinese news website Thepaper.cn, quoted by a fisheries scientist, said the deceased adults were "extremely valuable" because they were descended directly from wild sturgeon.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs opened an investigation and discovered that the construction of the bridge had been illegally introduced into a nature reserve, reported the China Daily.
A ministry official allegedly declared that anyone found responsible would be held responsible under the Fisheries Act.
