A team of researchers from IHB joined the 6th Mississippi-Yangtze River Basins Symposium and the 2024 AFS Annual Meeting, held from September 15 to 19, 2024 in Honolulu, Hawaii.(Credit: IHB)

At the invitation of Dr. Douglas Austen, executive director of the American Fisheries Society (AFS), a team of researchers from the Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences joined the 6th Mississippi-Yangtze River Basins Symposium (MYRIBS) and the 2024 AFS Annual Meeting, held from September 15 to 19, 2024 in Honolulu, Hawaii. This meeting, one of the most influential international gatherings organized by AFS, brought together more than 2,500 fisheries managers, academic experts, and researchers from North America and beyond to discuss global fisheries and aquatic biodiversity.

This year's theme, "Conservation of Fisheries Resources and Aquatic Biodiversity in Large River Basins," covered critical topics in fisheries science, including river basin fish ecology, resource monitoring and restoration, habitat restoration, biotic monitoring technology, and ecosystem management. Researchers from IHB, led by Professors XU Jun, ZHANG E, XIE Zicai, CHEN Yushun, TANG Tao, CAO Hong, and JIA Yintao, along with a team of 15, shared findings through field surveys, academic visits, and presentations.

The Chinese researchers presented 15 oral presentations, including “Conservation Status of Freshwater Fish Diversity in China” and “Temporal Succession in Different Facets of Fish Diversity Over Half a Century Under Cascade Reservoir Construction,” which highlighted China’s current conservation initiatives and research on the ecological impacts of dam construction. The presentations sparked engaging discussions with international colleagues on the latest research advancements and strategies for conserving river basin biodiversity.

The team also visited several leading U.S. institutions, including the Illinois River Biological Station, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Columbia Environmental Research Center, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, where they exchanged insights with American experts in fisheries and aquatic resource conservation.

The 2024 AFS Annual Meeting fostered valuable knowledge exchange on aquatic biodiversity conservation, reaffirming the importance of international collaboration in addressing the challenges facing large river ecosystems globally.

IHB researchers visited the Illinois River Biological Station (Credit: IHB)