WUHAN -- Over 3,000 captive-bred sturgeons were released into the middle reaches of the Yangtze River Sunday to revive the wild population of the endangered Chinese sturgeon and Dabry's sturgeon.

The release of 2,020 Chinese sturgeons and 1,000 Dabry's sturgeons took place in the city of Jingzhou, Central China's Hubei province.

In recent years, China has stepped up efforts to rescue the Dabry's sturgeon and other endangered endemic species in the river, such as Chinese sturgeon, said Wei Qi of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences that jointly launched the event.

Dabry's sturgeon, also known as the Yangtze sturgeon, has lost its natural ability to reproduce since 2000 due to overfishing and crowded rivers, among others. Nicknamed "aquatic pandas," Chinese sturgeons have existed for more than 140 million years. The size of the population of the flagship species in the Yangtze, however, plummeted in the late 20th century due to intrusive human activities.

According to Wei, about seven million captive-bred Chinese sturgeons have been released in the Yangtze sturgeon since 1983.