Dear Leaders, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Hello, everyone！
You know the water is ranked first in the Chinese Five Elements Theory because "water generating everything ". Water occupies an irreplaceable position in the history of Chinese cultural. The valley of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River is the birthplace of Chinese civilization, not only because they nourish the land and farmland, but also because of its wealthy fishery products that bring a valuable resource for our ancestors. Chinese people’s fear and love of water are mainly on the various water creatures. And the dragon, an ancient Chinese totem, is a typical embodiment of aquatic organisms. Our Chinese people claim ourselves to be "the Loong's offspring "."The carp has leaped through the dragon’s gate" is a better vision of the future of Chinese people. But we can not prove whether it is the start of Chinese native ornamental fish.
"There are more than eight hundred kinds of freshwater fishes in China and China is one of the countries having the largest species of freshwater fishes in the world. The freshwater fishes’ wide area of existence, diverse varieties and varied colorful color are known by people for a very long time"(From the Illustrated Handbook to Freshwater Fish in China). Every year, there are some new species, subspecies to be constantly discovered. Owing to the long-span latitude and longitude in China, there are so many kinds of Chinese native fishes, mainly including the cold water fish, the marine fish and the brackish water fish. The southern fish wins with its varied color and the northern one wins with its variety of postures and habits. The pelagics and groundfishes reflect and shine mutually and it is the Chinese native fish species with unique regional charm and feature. Ornamental fish has been neglected for a long time in China. Because of the impact of the exotic tropical fish, our native ornamental fish with high ornamental value and economic value fade from the public view. Some become the bait of exotic ornamental fish, and even become the victim of poultry industry. In the global ornamental fish trading market whose trading volume is more than 300 billion U.S. dollars annually, the proportion of the Chinese native fish is almost zero. At present, Chinese government is putting more attention on the development and the support of food fish and ignoring the protection and the use of unique ornamental fish. It leads to the loss of ornamental fish resource which can increase high economic efficiency and this becomes an urgent social problem.
Now our country is in the period of economic transition. Our country, as most other countries, faces the problem that how to deal with the conflict between the rapid economic development and the ecological conservation, especially the water conservation. The public usually puts more attention on terrestrial animals than aquatic organisms in the protection of wild animals. At present, the river pollution is one of the most serious problems and it is usually our native fish that gets the worst of it. In some areas, the destruction of their natural homes could be causing fish numbers to drop quickly. The fact is that illegal harvesting has not been controlled and managed effectively.
Liang Jiang Chinese original creature (www.cqh2o.com) is the first blog which mainly discusses the Chinese native aquatic protozoans. The theme of this forum is “valuing the life and loving the nature”. Members in the forum are not only protectors of the native ecosystem, but also appreciators and keepers. We hope to arouse human protecting consciousness to wild populations through publicizing the charm of native ornamental fish and to achieve the aim of the forum that is “to create the harmonious relationship between human and nature”. Under this background, almost all members in this forum have put forward the two-way choice issue of ornamental fishes’ protection and feeding. Maybe this is the choice that Chinese native ornamental fish faces at present.
The website was established seven years ago. In the long process of the its maintenance, I often meet the protozoan fans who show their attachment toward green hills, clear waters, lovely animals in their memories and also their anxiety about the worsening environment and their great longing for a bright future. I believe this is the unique emotion held by our companions. The protection and development of Chinese native ornamental fish is not only relating to the development of a new industry chain, but also undertaking the historical mission to create the harmonious coexistence between the ecological protection and the species protection.
In accordance with the domestic economic development, I would like to take this opportunity to propound the concept of sustainable development of Chinese native ornamental fish on my own behalf. That is “taking law as the guideline, taking policy as the support, taking protection as the basis, taking farming as the premise and aiming to hold a rational development
and to go abroad." The significance for this is to orderly develop the Chinese native ornamental fish resource, to urge our native ornamental fish to have a special place in the world ornamental fish market and then to produce good social and economic benefits within the laws and rules framework. The Acheilognathus subspecies, the goby subspecies and all kinds of cobitid fishes in China are competitive ornamental fishes to be explored.
A Rhodeus ocellatus once cost more than ten U.S. dollars in overseas market. I really hope to try our best to achieve the purpose of protecting and breeding the wild populations of Chinese native ornamental fish on the basis of rational development and utilization. And we can draw on the successful experience of Scleropages Formosus’ protection and development.
An old Chinese saying goes， " Wise people are fond of water and benevolent ones like mountains". Today, the Chinese native ornamental fish which brings our predecessors plenty of pleasure is presented to the world people with a brand-new look. We can foresee that it will have a very magnificent future. With the development of law and policy, we have reason to believe that Chinese native ornamental fish will become a wonderful and important branch of the global ornamental fish although the development of the Chinese native ornamental fish is facing a lot of difficulties and obstructions from every respect in the initial stage.
Thank you!
The Founder of Liang Jiang Chinese original creature
Zhigang Zhang
October, 2010
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