On April 13, the fifth anniversary of the launch of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation and the 2021 “Lanmei Week” celebrations were grandly held in Beijing. Entrusted by the Yangtze River Fisheries Administration, MARA (hereinafter referred to as the “Yangtze River Fisheries Administration”), FFRC, together withXishuangbanna Fishery Technology Extension Station, jointly participated in the Achievement Exhibition ofLancang-Mekong Cooperation Special Fund.
During the exhibition, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the guests of the conference paid close attention tothe jointproliferation and release species of China and Laos, such as the MystuswyckioidesChaux et Fang andBarbodesdaruphaniluosuoensis Wu et Lin, as well as Fishery-Agriculture integrated farming species, such as the Furui carp,displayed in the exhibition area of FFRC. Foreign Minister Wang Yi exchanged views with Dr. Li Feifanfrom FFRC on the effects and significance of the enhancement and release under the Lancang-Mekong cooperation framework.
During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, under the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, supported by the Yangtze River Fisheries Administration, MARA, Foreign Economic Cooperation Center, MARA, theneeds and the overall situation of fishery foreign aid workunder the Lancang-Mekong International Fisheries and Aquatic Ecology Cooperation Framework, focused on aquatic wildlife protection, fishery resource conservation, joint fishery administration law enforcement, aquaculture technical training and other key tasks, launched the "Lancang-Mekong River Aquatic Life Protection and Fishery Cooperation Project", and joined forces with Cambodia and Myanmar to carry out ecological scientific investigation onpuffer porpoise in the Mekong River in Cambodia, the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar and fish resource survey in the Mekong River Basin, and carried out cooperative research and in-depth exchanges on habitat protection, protection of endangered species and conservation of fishery resources in the Lancang-Mekong basin, which effectively improved the national aquatic wildlife protection capacity in the Lan-Mekong basin.
Since 2017, FFRC has jointly carried out 7 times of propagation and releasing activities with the Mekong countries such as Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. A total of 4.931 million fish fry have been reproduced and released in the Mekong River, which has made a positive contribution to the restoration of fishery resources in the Lancang-Mekong basin. At the same time, FFRC actively helped the Lancang-Mekong countries to improve theirself-development capabilities, successively trained more than 680 senior fishery technology and management officials for the Lancang-Mekong countries, and contributed China’s wisdom and China’s plan toenhance the scientific conservation capabilities of fishery resources, and accelerate the development of aquaculture and rice-fish industry for the Lancang-Mekong countries.Six experts groups of FFRC have been sent to Lancang-Mekong countries to carry out poverty alleviation work such as “rice-fish integrated farming” and tilapia industrial chain development, and “China-Myanmar rice-fish farming demonstration base" has been set up in Myanmar.
In the next step, FFRC will actively prepare for the 1stWorking Group Meeting onFishery and Water EcologicalCooperationin the Lancang-Mekong River Basin, establish the working group on fishery and water ecological cooperation in theLancang-Mekong basin as soon as possible, and issue the Lancang-Mekong Basin Fishery and Water Ecological CooperationDeclaration, and promote the establishment of a mechanism forfishery and water ecological exchange and cooperation in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin, build a cooperation platform for the conservation of aquatic organisms andhealthy aquaculture in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin, further promote the protection of aquatic wildlife, the conservation of aquatic biological resources and the sustainable development of fisheries in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin, and promote the construction of the Lancang-Mekong Ecological Cooperation Demonstration Zone. At the same time, under the framework of South-South cooperation, FFRC will actively leverage on our advantages of technology and international cooperation, and actively contribute to the construction of a community with a shared future in Asia to serve the construction of the “Belt and Road Initiatives”.
