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recently, a large number of dead fish appeared in shanghai's suzhou river due to citizens' blind release of dead fish, with even one ton of dead fish fished out in one day, which has attracted public attention.

(photo source: shanghai environment)

the release of animals without scientific basis not only leads to the death of animals and pollutes the environment, but may also cause the invasion of alien species and harm the ecological environment.

why is the blind release of animals becoming more and more serious? how to solve the problem of releasing animals turning into "killing animals"?

one ton of dead fish is caught every day!

after the 42-kilometer shoreline of suzhou creek in shanghai was connected, the water surface was clean and the shoreline was beautiful, attracting many citizens to release animals on specific days. some even said:"just put it down whenever you remember. you can put it down here."

(photo source: shanghai environment)

according to the operators, as more and more people release dead fish into the water, the difficulty of clearing them out increases year by year. this year, a "new record" was set by catching one ton of dead fish in one day.it is expected that by the end of the year, the salvaged weight will exceed last year's 7.9 tons.

(photo source: shanghai environment)

the reporter learned that several departments in shanghai jointly issued a document last year to regulate the release of fish in public waters, but the results were minimal.

recently, a video of a woman releasing live cockroaches in a residential community has been widely circulated online. in the video, a woman released live cockroaches in a residential community flowerbed and was filmed and questioned by a residential property owner. the woman responded by asking, "why did you film it?"

according to the staff of the street office where the community in question belongs, after the incident of releasing cockroaches, the property company carried out comprehensive disinfection in the surrounding area.

although the original intention of releasing animals is good, if it lacks scientific basis and reasonable planning, it may bring unexpected consequences.the reporter found that such "private release" behaviors occur from time to time. some people release hundreds of snakes in parks, and some even release foreign species such as red-eared sliders in freshwater lakes.

releasing a large number of alien species endangers ecological security

they were sentenced to pay 58,000 yuan in various compensations

last year, the first civil public interest lawsuit against illegal release of alien species in china was closed in jiangsu. xu bought 25,000 kilograms of catfish native to the nile river system in africa from liu and released them into changdang lake without authorization. soon after, a large number of catfish released by xu died. xu junhua, deputy director of the management office of the changdang lake fisheries management committee, said that the fishery supervision brigade took 10 days to salvage a total of 20,208 kilograms of dead catfish.

ultimately, the court held that the defendants xu and liu committed joint infringement.they should jointly bear 35,000 yuan in compensation for damage to ecological resources, 18,000 yuan in expert assessment fees and 5,000 yuan in punitive damages.

chen ying, the presiding judge of the case and president of the nanjing environmental resources court, introduced that after the incident, the nanjing people's procuratorate believed that xu violated national regulations and deliberately released a large number of alien species into changdang lake, seriously endangering the safety of the changdang lake water ecosystem.

"according to the biosafety law, if anyone releases or discards alien species without approval, the relevant government departments shall order them to be recaptured within a time limit and impose a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan. in addition, the waters of changdang lake belong to the yangtze river basin, and the yangtze river protection law clearly prohibits the breeding and release of alien species or other non-native species in the open waters of the yangtze river basin."

chen ying said that the leather-bearded catfish, also known as the african catfish, is an alien invasive species and a carnivorous and ferocious fish.this type of fish has basically no natural enemies in the waters of changdang lake. it will form a competitive relationship with native fish, seriously impacting the survival of native fish, thus affecting biological security.

during the trial, xu repeatedly expressed regret for the illegal release of animals: "i don't know what are alien species, what are native species, and what are the laws and regulations."

chen ying believes that this case has a certain role as a warning to the public, reminding them to be aware of biosafety and legal awareness. if it involves the release of invasive species, it will constitute a criminal offense.

unordered release

how should we manage it?

relevant national departments and some localities have paid attention to the harm of private release of alien species, and have issued documents and relevant measures. the central document no. 1 of 2023 proposes to severely crack down on the illegal introduction of alien species, implement major invasive species prevention and control actions, and strengthen the standardized management of "exotic pet" trading and release.

the first local regulation in china to specifically regulate the release of wild animals, the guangzhou wildlife release management regulations, came into effect on november 1 last year.it clearly states that it is necessary to demarcate areas for releasing wild animals, establish an information management platform for releasing wild animals, and establish a daily supervision mechanism for releasing activities.

gong shiping, a professor at the school of life sciences and technology of jinan university, believes that releasing large numbers of animals into the wild could cause environmental overload and damage the ecosystem.

"if a place can only support 1,000 fish but 10,000 are released, the excess fish will consume local resources, cause the death of native fish, and disrupt the balance of the ecological environment. in addition, disorderly release may also destroy the genetic resources of local species through hybridization, causing far-reaching negative effects."

gong shiping introduced that the management measures formulated by guangzhou are relatively clear and operational. due to the large number of aquatic animals released by the public and the limited manpower of the agricultural department, it is difficult to fully manage the release business, and the mandatory nature is relatively weak, so the focus is mainly on guidance.the groups requesting the release of animals need to register with the government departments and release species within the designated range at designated locations, which has achieved certain results. in the future, it is necessary to further enhance law enforcement capabilities and resources.

on july 2, 2023, the jingshan city natural resources and planning bureau held a wild bird release event in jingmen, hubei province. (photo source: visual china)

mao kangshan, a professor at the school of life sciences of sichuan university, believes that the behavior of releasing animals by the public is highly arbitrary and difficult to supervise, and needs to be managed in a multi-pronged manner. he suggested thata special department will be set up to regulate and manage the approval of release activities and manage species, and the grassroots will be responsible for implementation.

"unordered release of animals may seriously harm the ecosystem, especially releasing cockroaches and invasive alien species, which is strictly prohibited. it is suggested that a blacklist can be established to indicate the species that are prohibited from being released, or a whitelist can be established to list the species that are allowed to be released."