Wuhan to host intl aquatic congress

Wuhan HHAn Polar Ocean Park in Hubei province has equipped itself with aquatic life conservation capacity to embrace the 13th International Aquarium Congress scheduled for 2027.

Earlier this month, the organizing committee of the congress announced that the park will host its 13th congress.

At such congresses, aquarium industry professionals and scholars from around the world gather to exchange experiences and achievements in animal conservation and breeding, science education and scientific research and environmental protection.

They will also provide solutions for the sustainable development of aquariums and oceans.

In the bid speech, Tan Wencheng, the park's manager, said the park has currently been involved in research on endangered cetacean breeding and conservation. It also offered technical support on the reintroduction of the Yangtze finless porpoise into the Yangtze River for ex situ conservation, he said.

To embrace the congress, it will build an exhibition hall in 2023 to display the Yangtze River's conservation efforts.

Wuhan HHAn Polar Ocean Park, which opened in September 2011, has received nearly 20 million tourists to date. Wuhan will be the second Chinese city to host the congress. In 2008, Shanghai hosted the 7th one.

The congress has been held every three years since 1960.

At this year's congress, which ended on Nov 4 in Boulogne sur Mer, France, 200 aquariums acknowledged that aquariums, with 500 million visitors per year, are committed to raising awareness and mobilizing their visitors to favorably view the ocean.

In addition to raising visitors' awareness and doing scientific communication on ocean-related issues, aquariums should encourage actions in regard to the emergency state of the oceans affected by global warming and the erosion of biodiversity, the commitments said.

They all recognized the fact that oceans cover 70 percent of the planet's surface, produce 50 percent of the oxygen used each year by living beings and store 25 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, according to the commitments.