Intertwining his life with the fate of the Chinese sturgeon—a species teetering on the brink of extinction—was not a calculated career move for Du Hejun, who is now in charge of providing technological support for species conservation at the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute (CSRI).
Du, who holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Hydrobiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was first drawn to the conservation of this ancient species in 2010. “My research on fish began while I was pursuing my master’s degree,” he told Oriental Outlook magazine. “It was during field research that I witnessed the alarming rate at which fish resources were being depleted.”
The species he set out to study and
