Rat infestations, dying fish and algae outbreaks signal a severe deterioration in the biological habitat of the Yangtze, China's longest river, state press said Tuesday.
"The Yangtze river is a gene bank for biodiversity," Xinhua news agency quoted vice agriculture minister Niu Dun as saying at a forum in Shanghai.
"But as the economy has developed at a fast pace, the aquatic resources of the Yangtze river have severely fallen into decline and many species are facing extinction."
Severe pollution from factories and cities along the Yangtze had decimated the river's fisheries, while heavy transport was destroying fish habitats, he said.
Niu cited the white-fin dolphin, which has lived in the river for millions of years, and the Yangtze river sturgeon as two species driven to the brink of extinction.
"Warning signs that the river's ecology is deteriorating are the blue algae outbreak in Taihu Lake and the rat infestation in Dongting Lake this year," Niu said of the plagues that have attacked two of the river's major lakes.
Niu urged greater cooperation on curbing pollution between environmental, agricultural, industrial and water resource departments in the 11 provinces and regions that the river flows through.
A lack of clear responsibility between the provinces and regions and government departments was one reason that the government had been unable to efficiently protect the river, he added.
The Yangtze is the world's third largest river and the surrounding areas are home to up to one third of China's 1.3 billion people.
China's unabated economic boom has damaged the environment with the government reporting that more than 70 percent of the nation's waterways and 90 percent of its underground water is contaminated by pollution.
