Super Zoo

"The Yangtze River has always been the mother river of the Huaxia nation. This third largest river in the world stretches 4,504 kilometers, with a drainage area of one million square kilometers, and possesses a total water resource volume of 961.6 billion cubic meters, which is twenty times that of the Yellow River. It boasts rich aquatic resources – before liberation, it provided around 500,000 tons of fishery catch annually. In recent years, however, due to overfishing by humans, the aquatic resources of the Yangtze River are nearly exhausted, yielding less than 80,000 tons each year. The world-renowned Yangtze River shad, Chinese paddlefish, and others, are on the brink of extinction. The Baiji Dolphin, once known as the goddess of the Yangtze, has been declared functionally extinct. The most common 'four major domestic fishes' have declined from over 30 billion per year to less than 100 million. To protect the aquatic resources and the reproduction of aquatic life, a fishing ban is implemented on the Yangtze River every year from March to June, with the specific timeframe determined by the local governments of each watershed..."

On the way to Huayin County, Nangong Huang was looking up information on an iPad, sitting in the back seat and muttering to himself as if he was reciting from a textbook.
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In reality, these materials were not that meaningful; Suming and the others were not from the Yangtze River Bureau. They were mainly going to Huayin County for tourism and to see if there were any worthwhile fisheries to consider. The current condition of the Yangtze River's water resources was not something Suming should worry about - even if he wanted to care, at this point, he felt powerless.

However, since Nangong Huang was showing willingness to make an effort and had done his homework in advance, Suming would naturally support him.

Joining them was Su Meng, Suming's number one bodyguard, with Haidong Qing overhead. Nangong had taken almost a month's leave before heading to Xiangjiang and had been busy making up for lost work ever since his return, leaving him no time to get away.

Originally, they had also wanted to bring Liang Shi along, as he was a real expert on aquatic products.

Unfortunately, just the day before departure, Liang Shi received some bad news: Professor Chu called to say that the two Baiji Dolphins being raised at the provincial protection center had died.

Indeed, it was just as Nangong Huang had mentioned earlier, the Baiji Dolphin known as the goddess of the Yangtze.

Suming learned later that Baiji Dolphins were actually rarer than the Yangtze finless porpoise. In the wild, both species were virtually extinct. However, under artificial breeding and protection, there were still about a dozen or so finless porpoises, but for the Baiji Dolphin, the nation only had those two last specimens at the provincial aquatic product protection center.

In other parts of the country, there were a few so-called 'Baiji Dolphin centers', but they were just a façade; the animals they raised were all finless porpoises.

After receiving the call, Liang Shi, in tears, took leave and went back to the provincial capital to attend the Baiji Dolphins' farewell ceremony, and to perform a dissection and have them made into specimens... It wasn't that Liang Shi was overly emotional like a woman; it was just that his attachment ran deep. For the four years of his university life, and the first year and a half of his graduate studies, outside of attending classes, he spent nearly all his remaining time at the protection center with those two porpoises.

Suming seriously chastised Liang Shi, teasing him that no wonder he couldn't find a girlfriend and deserved to remain single for life!

The two Baiji Dolphins died of natural causes and their deaths were relatively peaceful, but Professor Chu and the others at the provincial agricultural science institute were at a loss; with the death of the last two Baiji Dolphins, it was almost time to declare the species extinct.

While they were still alive, there was still some hope for them to produce some offspring, or to use artificial insemination. Now that they were dead, it was as hopeless as a widow losing her only son.

In the eyes of ordinary people like Suming, the extinction of the Baiji Dolphin had no impact. It was just a topic for a wistful sigh after a meal. But to professionals like Liang Shi and Professor Chu, it was a catastrophic disaster. Even Mr. Song, who had retired, went with Liang Shi to the provincial capital to see the Baiji Dolphins one last time.

Giant pandas, Chinese alligators, Baiji Dolphins – these emblematic creatures of Huaxia were disappearing. The Chinese alligator and the giant panda were also living on the edge of extinction. Suming guessed that maybe in another hundred or two hundred years, his descendants would be thrilled to see a Grey Wolf: "Look, Mom, the national treasure Grey Wolf..."

"Brother-in-law, if you ask me, to hell with protection! Let those fishermen overfish until everything is gone, and then let those bastard fishermen reap what they sow!" Nangong Huang said indignantly from the back seat.

"The depletion of the Yangtze River's fisheries shouldn't entirely be blamed on the fishermen," Suming shook his head. True, fishermen have used high-tech equipment and tiny mesh nets, but as you can see from the catch, it was 500,000 tons fifty years ago, and now it's less than 80,000 tons -- so the amount of fish being caught has actually decreased.

Among the four major factors causing species extinction – overfishing, construction of water conservancy projects, water pollution, and sand mining – overfishing is actually the least impactful. The real devastation comes from the construction of hydropower stations and dams, which directly cut off the flow of the river, interrupting the migration paths of fish and destroying their habitats.

Then there's pollution. The number of high-pollution companies on both banks of the Yangtze is countless. Liang Shi's investigations revealed that every second, 30,000 tons of wastewater are discharged into the Yangtze River.

Liang Shi joked that over the past few decades, water pollution has caused more damage to Huaxia's land than the Japanese invasion during the war, with much of the loss being permanent. Some species have vanished without notice, and although their disappearance does not cause as dramatic a social reaction as a poisoned milk scandal, once the species resources are gone, they are gone forever. It's a big blow to the genetic resources of species and biodiversity. When most of the fish in the Yangtze River are gone, the Yangtze will be dead.

"Doesn't the government care?" Nangong Huang asked.

Suming glanced at him and said, "I'm not the government, why ask me? I never would have guessed that someone who can't even recite the English alphabet could be so concerned about the country and its people."

Nangong Huang made a statement that was very frustrating for Suming to hear, "Everyone is responsible for the rise or fall of the country!"

People see things from different perspectives, and they compute their calculations differently. Liang Shi only calculated the environmental cost, but pollution also brought economic prosperity. The trade-offs between those gains and losses weren't something that could be explained in just a line or two.

Suming was too lazy to think about such lofty issues; taking care of his own patch of land was what really mattered.

Huayin County is only a little over three kilometers away from Yangchuan City, and there was no need to take the national highway -- after leaving the city, they just followed the county road for a while and arrived at a small riverside town.

The town was not large; standing at a slightly higher spot, one could see the entire town at a glance. It was in essence a large fishing village with a slightly higher level of modernization.

The fishing season on the Yangtze River has been open for three days now, and upon entering the city, there was no sign of water resources being exhausted. On the contrary, it was all hustle and bustle.

Every household had rows of large water tanks at their doors, densely packed with newly caught river fish; various fishing restaurants and specialty diners were everywhere.

Not only were there the honest fishermen with their darkened skin, but the small county was now filled with tourists from all directions.

Each fishing season, Huayin County draws numerous tourists looking to taste the new catch; Huayin County has also developed various water tourism projects, such as boat tours and fishing. The tourism industry has almost become Huayin County's secondary industry.

Suming came this time with the thought of finding economical fish species to take back to the reservoir for aquaculture. He wasn't in a hurry to get to the 'exchange meeting'. He parked his car at the parking lot outside the county and walked along, stopping at every fish stall to ask about prices and inquire about the market.

He didn't see any particularly special fish, mainly the "Four Major Domestic Fish" and plenty of small silverfish; he also saw two stalls selling eels.

Even Suming could tell that those eels were mostly likely bred in captivity; these days, it was very hard to find wild eels in the Yangtze River on any scale.

The crabs were not bad, but this place wasn't far from Poyang Lake, so no matter how you farm them, it would be hard to match the reputation that Poyang Lake hairy crabs had built up over more than a decade. Plus, these fierce-looking creatures feed on small fish fry, which could be more trouble than it's worth if put in the reservoir, potentially becoming a nuisance.

"Brother-in-law, look..." Nangong Huang suddenly tugged on Suming's sleeve and nudged his mouth toward a small, secluded fish shop.

The fish-selling shop didn't have a big storefront, but the water tank out front was three layers deep with tourists who were curiously jostling to get a look and pointing at the fish inside.

Elbowing his way into the crowd, Suming saw there were three large water tanks out front with about a hundred plump fishes, each about the size of a palm.

These fish were round and chubby, rather cute, with mottled gray-green patterns on their backs and white bellies, along with a single straight, small spine on their backs, bobbing their heads and wiggling about in the water.

At first glance, they appeared like mutant frogs that had not grown legs.

Suming chuckled to himself; no wonder there was such a crowd. These plump fish were none other than the legendary "river puffers."

River puffer fish are euryhaline creatures that live in shallow seas, and during the fishing season, large numbers return to the Yangtze River system. They are abundant in numbers, and if at the coast, they can be caught almost all year round. The flesh of the river puffer is white as frost, rich and tender, delicious, high in protein, and the ancients even had a saying, "One who doesn't eat river puffer doesn't know the taste of fish."

These river puffers, with their backs tinged green, were strictly called "Dusky Spotted Puffers."

Nangong Huang cheerfully explained at the side that river puffers also had another name—ancient literati would refer to them as "Xishi's breasts," meaning their flesh was as white as milk, plump and luscious, melting in the mouth, just like the milk of the great beauty Xishi.

"Nonsense, ancient literati were all quite reserved; Xishi's breasts were Xishi's breasts, but it definitely wasn't referring to her breast milk," Suming said.

"Then what is it?" Nangong Huang, still somewhat a child, couldn't immediately understand all the messy things in Suming's head.

"Uh... forget it, it's nothing." Suming clammed up. It was one thing to discuss this topic with Nangong but not appropriate to corrupt the young.

In ancient Huaxia, there was the saying "Risk one's life to eat river puffer," as they contain deadly toxins. Since ancient times, many have died from greedily consuming river puffers, and yet generation after generation of gourmets continue to take the risk, showing just how tempting the taste is.

Added to that, river puffers looked rather cute, which is why many onlookers gathered, but few were willing to pull out their wallets to buy them. River puffers weren't something the average housewife could prepare well, and even chefs at restaurants didn't dare to try lightly; one mistake, and it could cost a human life.

The fish shop owner, a middle-aged man with dark skin, squatted behind the water tank, calling out somewhat anxiously, "Folks, buy a few, why don't you? These aren't just delicious, they're also fun. If you're afraid to eat them, you can still buy them to keep as pet fish!"

Someone laughed and pointed at the river puffer, "How is this fun?"

———— Divider Line ——————

Yesterday was a good day, for 520, and then Huo Jianhua suddenly got together with Lin Xinru.

Upon hearing this news, I immediately scoured the entire city's toilets, hoping to capture a wild Hu Ge crying his heart out~~