Gotta be quick with this one, lunch breaks have a habit of slipping by far too fast: 新京报/The Beijing News reports that that a whole lot of filter-feeding fish are going to be released into the Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace) to clean the lake water:
6万滤食鱼入圆明园“净水”
60 thousand filter-feeding fish to enter Yuanmingyuan to “clean the water”
海淀38万尾滤食鱼净化水环境
380 thousand filter-feeding fish to purify Haidian’s water environment
[Wait, nciku says 滤食 means ‘suspension feeder’, which makes no sense to me. Wikipedia to the rescue!: ‘suspension feeder’ is apparently another term for ‘filter feeder’]
昨日10时，首批滤食性鱼种被投放至圆明园福海。为了确保水环境健康，昨天，海淀区农林委将38万尾白鲢、鳙鱼、草鱼、兴国红鲤鱼等滤食性鱼类分别投入圆明园福海和上庄水库，净化区内湖泊的水质。
At 10 am yesterday the first batch of filter-feeding fish was released into Yuanmingyuan’s Fuhai. In order to guarantee the health of the water environment, yesterday, Haidian District’s Agriculture and Forestry Committee released 380 thousand filter-feeding fish of such types as silver carp, Aristichthys mobilis, grass carp and Xingguo red carp into Yuanmingyuan’s Fuhai and Shangzhuang Reservoir to purify the water quality of the district’s lakes.
[yeah, I could use some help with a couple of those fish names. Don’t have time to find proper English names for them all]
海淀区农林委负责人表示，目前投放的滤食性鱼类，如白鲢、鳙鱼（胖头鱼），每条约重250克，它们通过滤食水体中的浮游生物、杂草和有机碎屑，降低水体中氮、磷等富营养化物质的含量，增加水体透明度，改善水质状况。此次投放数量符合规定，不会威胁原有水生生物。
The person responsible at the Haidian District Agricultural and Forestry Committee said that the filter-feeding fish currently being released, such as silver carp and Aristichthys mobilis (variegated carp), weigh 250 grams each. They feed by passing plankton, weed, and organic matter through a filter, reducing the amount of matter such as nitrogen and phosphorous that cause eutrophication, increasing water clarity, improving water quality. This release accords with regulations and will not threaten native aquatic life.
圆明园管理处表示，投放福海的6万尾滤食鱼类，不仅能改善水质，还增加了一处赏鱼新景点。由于圆明园内全是中水，水质较差，为避免水华的大面积爆发，去年底起，圆明园就申请在水域内投放食藻虫，控制水藻生长。
The Yuanmingyuan Management Office said that the 60 thousand filter-feeding fish released into Fuhai won’t just improve water quality, but will also add to the new fish-viewing scenic spot. Because all the water in Yuanmingyuan is processed, water quality is not very good, and to avoid an algal bloom covering a large area, starting from the end of last year Yuanmingyuan applied to release algivorous insects to control the growth of algae.
It all sounds good to me. Trouble is I don’t have time to either translate this properly or do anything more than hit ‘publish’.
