THE CURRENT SITUATION OF FISHERY RESOURCES IN THE XIANGXI RIVER OF THE THREE GORGES RESERVOIR AND ADVICES ON THE MANAGEMENT

To protect the biodiversity in the Xiangxi River of the Three Gorges Reservoir and to develop strategies on fishery management, we analyzed the data about the fish resources collected from 2012 to 2013, and compared them with the historical records. The fish samples belonged to 3 orders, 8 families, 35 genera and 48 species, and the limnicolous species were the majority in the samples. The dominant fish species were Pelteobagrus nitidus, Aristichthys nobilis, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Culter dabryi, Hemiculter bleekeri, Siniperca kneri, Culter alburnus, Pelteobagrus vachclli, Squalidus argentatus and Saurogobio dabryi. Carnivores such as Culter dabryi, Culter alburnus and Siniperca kneri accounted for 31.54% of the total fish catches, indicating a relatively high biomass. The catch per unit effort (CPUE) was (69.4546.61) kg/(per boat and per day) in the summer, which was the highest among all seasons. According to the historical records, we found that the fish community in the Xiangxi River had undergone a marked change and the limnicolous species had become dominant after the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir. Based on this study, we proposed strategies on the fishery management such as the adjustment of closed fishing season, the utilization of small-size fishes, and the proper stock of carnivores.