The gargantuan high Three Gorges Dam has been blamed for causing dwindling fish numbers on the mighty Yangtze River, but recent tests suggest that at least one breed is making a fight for survival.
The Yangtze Sturgeon, which at 250 million years is as old as the dinosaurs, has rediscovered how to breed naturally more than 16 years after losing its ability to reproduce.
The sturgeon is often called a "living fossil" because of its prehistoric appearance and ancient roots, but numbers of both the Yangtze - and the larger breed of Chinese sturgeon - have been rapidly dwindling.
Pollution and the increase in shipping have been the main threats to the fish, which have both been classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since the 1990s.
But they have also been affected by the Three Gorges Dam, which began operation in 2006, and other dams which block traditional migratory routes that are used for breeding.
Scientists have found no evidence of natural reproduction by the Chinese sturgeon in the last three years.
And with the Yangtze Sturgeon, which is sometimes called Dabry's sturgeon, there has been no sign of breeding in the wild since the 1990s, said Professor Wei Qiwei, chief scientist at the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute.
But a recent experiment which involved four female fish and six males being put into a simulated "natural river environment" for ten days appears to have been successful.
One of the females laid 32,000 eggs, and at least one of the male fish was involved in the fertilisation. The experiment saw 22 baby fish being bred.
“With this experiment, we did not inject hormones,” Prof Wei told The Telegraph.
“We did not stimulate the fish, but we simulated the natural conditions by adjusting the temperature and creating an environment to allow them to spawn in a pond.”
“I am quite sure that the fish can spawn in the river.”
Prof Wei said a similar test could not be carried out for the Chinese sturgeon as the fish is too large. But he said any indication that the population of a specific breed of fish can be increased in the Yangtze River could offer hope for the wider marine life.
State media are calling the successful experiment a “breakthrough”.
The 1.5 mile long Three Gorges Dam, in central China’s Hubei province, is among the world’s largest hydropower plants.
China says it has helped tame the mighty Yangtze River, controlling floods and improving river transportation.
However, critics say it has also affected the marine life by having a dramatic impact on the water’s landscape, temperatures and flow regime.
Officials say they have been making progress by releasing artificially bred fish into the river, setting up nature reserves, enforcing fishing bans and targeting illegal fishing.
Authorities also claim to be improving the quality of the river water and developing the eco-system in the forests around the Yangtze in an attempt to confront pollution and create a better environment for fishes and other wildlife.
“In order to protect the water resources we have invested over 80 billion yuan (£9.4 bn) in recent years,” said Yu Guodong, a leading environmental official.
Numbers of the Chinese river dolphin, which is also known as the baiji or "Goddess of the Yangtze", are said to be so few that the species was thought to be unable to reproduce and declared ‘functionally extinct’ in 2006.
Additional reporting by Christine Wei