The Chinese authority announced that it will give more sturgeons to Hong Kong to replace one that died earlier, and the new fish will go on display on the opening day of the Olympic Games. The donation was confirmed after the National Aquatic Wildlife Conservation Association and Ocean Park signed an agreement last Wednesday. Last month one of the five Chinese sturgeons previously given to Hong Kong by the association died after being bitten by barracudas at Ocean Park.
Wei Qiwei of the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences expressed that they have to give Ocean Park five new sturgeons because a total of five sturgeons have to go on display at the same time to signify the five Olympic rings ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
Allan Zeman, chairman of Ocean Park, was grateful for the support and trust from the association, saying that the five new fish will be displayed in an aquarium which is to be converted from the existing Shark Aquarium. The five new fish, measuring two meters long each, are between seven and nine years old. He also said that the first batch is expected to join the newcomers at the new aquarium by the end of this year when the second batch is expected to be fully prepared to live in salt water.
