A five-member delegation led by Prof. XIE Shouqi, deputy director of Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of Chinese Academy of Sciences, visited the Lake Erhai from May 18 to 19, 2018 to see the protection efforts and management of this lake.    

Lake Erhai is a subtropical plateau lake in Yunnan province, located in the far southwest of the country. As its water quality declines these years, the risk for the occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms is increasing.    

“If we want to build a good ecosystem structure in the Erhai Lake, it’s very important to control the input of pollutant sources,” said Dr. GUO Longgen, Associate Professor of IHB. “The pollution flowing into the Lake should be reduced in an effective way and the self-purification function of the lake ecosystem should be strengthened.”  

To control the occurrence of algal blooms, IHB conducts ecosystem regulation oriented towards fishery management in recent years. With feasible measures, water quality of the Erhai Lake remains stable at III level and no large- scale algal blooms outbroken.    

IHB’s deputy director fully affirmed the achievements that the institute had made in the protection and management of the Erhai Lake. He said, “We have reached a preliminary cooperative intention with the local government in the all-round protection and management of the Erhai Lake and we are confident in contributing to this project.”   

Over the past decade, IHB gives full play to its unique academic strengths, and conducts long-term research on ecosystem in Erhai Lake, especially on the relationship between water quality, aquatic plant, fisheries and phytoplankton. It developed sets of technologies to control and restore aquatic ecosystem, which produced large social, economic and environmental benefits.  

 

To control the occurrence of water blooms, IHB conducts ecosystem regulation oriented towards fishery in recent years. 

Prof. XIE Shouqi, center, with IHB scientists working at the Lake Erhai Research Station under IHB.