Tens of thousands of Siberian sturgeon fry will be released into the river in Transbaikalia

70 thousand fry of Siberian sturgeon, listed in the Red Book of the region, will be released into the Chara River in the Kalarsky district of the Trans-Baikal Territory. This is reported by the government of Transbaikalia.

Now a large batch of fry is being prepared for transportation to the Kalarsky district. The process of growing to the required weight of 2 grams takes place at a specialized fish hatchery in Chita.

"Projects such as the release of juvenile sturgeon into the Charu River are of great importance for restoring populations of valuable fish species and maintaining the ecosystem of water bodies. This is not a one—time action, but a contribution to the future, to the preservation of natural heritage," commented Pavel Volzhin, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the region.

According to ChitaMedia news agency, the Siberian sturgeon almost completely disappeared from the northern reservoirs of Transbaikalia in the early 1990s. This was facilitated by uncontrolled fishing and the weakening of measures to protect biological resources. Subsequently, the fish of this species was listed in the Red Book of the region. Since 2023, thousands of Siberian sturgeon fry have been released into the Chara, which is a tributary of the Olekma, which is a tributary of the Lena.

At the end of February, it was reported that Russian scientists had discovered that pollution of water bodies can be assessed by the activity of proteins that are responsible for detoxification in the liver of fish.