Group of Chinese scientists visits Cape Girardeau to study Mississippi River Basin

Chinese call the nearly 4,000-mile Yangtze River the "golden waterway" or "river of mother," and Americans have dubbed the Mississippi River "Old Man River," but the roles the two large waterways play in the economy and development of their respective nations are similar.

Those similarities are part of the idea behind a scientific exchange program that brought a five-member team of Chinese water ecology and river management experts to Cape Girardeau from Friday through today.

The team, made up of two fishery specialists, two researchers and a water ecology specialist with the Nature Conservancy in China, spent the time with staff from the Missouri Department of Conservation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service learning about monitoring and preservation techniques used in the Mississippi River Basin.

Both the Mississippi and the Yangtze rivers are water systems under a great deal of pressure to produce goods and services, said Bob Hrabik, manager for the conservation department's Open Rivers and Wetlands Field Station.

In spring 2008, Hrabik traveled to China with a team of U.S. scientists as part of the same program to get a first-hand look at the Yangtze River and its reservoir.

"It's incredible how much of a working river it is," Hrabik said.

Hrabik said in the 10 days he spent in the Yangtze Basin, he saw more commercial traffic on the river than could be seen in six months on the Mississippi.

The banks of the Yangtze were lined with industry, including gravel mining, rock quarries and fisheries. Even boats were built along the shores then pushed into the water when the river rose high enough, Hrabik said.

Asia's longest river, the Yangtze produces a majority of the fish that provides a protein staple for China's people, Hrabik said.

Now, with improved economic development, China has set its sights on learning methods of getting production with the Yangtze while still preserving and protecting natural resources, Hrabik said.

"The Yangtze really means a lot to us," said Xiaoming Sun, of the Nature Conservancy in China.

The exchange program helps experts from both nations learn more about each other's needs in maintaining their large river systems, Sun said.

The Nature Conservancy of China, started in 1998 to promote ecological diversity and protect natural resources, is particularly interested in learning more about the fish and water monitoring programs used in the region, Sun said.

On Sunday, the group of specialists visited the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge and the Dark Cypress Swamp State Wildlife Area for presentations on managing floodplains.

Hrabik said he hopes the exchange program continues, placing more emphasis in the future on practical applications now that a rapport has been established.

"The next step is to move beyond the shaking hands and goodwill missions, and actually putting something on the ground," he said.

bdicsomo@semissourian.com

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