Thousands of fish fry were released into the Tumen River in northeast China on Thursday to replenish its stocks.
It was the fifth annual release of artificially-bred fish fry into the river in Jilin Province. Stretching more than 500 km, the Tumen forms part of the border between China, Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The batch of fry included more than 800,000 salmon as well as 500 other fish species.
Wang Zhaojun, an inspector with the provincial water resources department, said the salmon fry each measured 4-6 cm long and that they had been bred for six months and passed quarantine tests.
They are an indigenous variety known as dog, or chum, salmon that will migrate to the river's estuary and enter the Pacific Ocean through the Sea of Japan. After three to four years, they will travel back and make their way upstream to the river section in Jilin for spawning.
"Releasing fish fry has helped international fishing and the rehabilitation of the river," said Wang.
According to Jilin's water resources department, 2.3 million salmon fry, 3.4 million juvenile crabs and 270,000 other fish have been released into the Tumen over the past five years.
