Editing Chinese paddlefish (section)

==Decline and extinction==
The last records of Chinese paddlefish in the Yellow River basin and its estuary date back to the 1960s, although declines were realized between the 13th and 19th centuries.<ref name="Xie2018" /><ref name="Li2015" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Hui |last2=Jarić |first2=Ivan |last3=Roberts |first3=David L. |last4=He |first4=Yongfeng |last5=Du |first5=Hao |last6=Wu |first6=Jinming |last7=Wang |first7=Chengyou |last8=Wei |first8=Qiwei |year=2020 |title=Extinction of one of the world's largest freshwater fishes: Lessons for conserving the endangered Yangtze fauna |journal=Science of the Total Environment |volume=710 |pages=136242 |bibcode=2020ScTEn.71036242Z |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136242 |issn=0048-9697 |pmid=31911255 |s2cid=210086307}}</ref><!-- see "Supporting Information" in Xie2018 --> Declines were significant throughout its primary range in the Yangtze basin, but annual captures of 25 tonnes continued into the 1970s.<ref name="Zhang Jarić Roberts He 2020 p=136242" /> In 1983, the Chinese government made fishing of the species illegal due to its decline in numbers.<ref name=Wei2002/> The species was still being found in small numbers in the 1980s (for example, 32 were caught in 1985), and young were seen as recently as 1995.<ref name="iucn" /> Due to the rarity of the fish by the time it was realised that it was in peril, and the fact that the adult fish were difficult to keep in captivity, attempts to create a captive breeding stock failed.<ref name=Wei2002/>[[File:ChinesePaddlefishZhengZhong.jpg|thumb|Depiction in the 17th-century work ''Searching the Mountains for Demons'' by Zheng Zhong]]

Since 2000, there have been only two confirmed sightings of the fish alive, both from the Yangtze basin: The first was a {{convert|3.3|m|ftin|adj=on}}, {{convert|117|kg|adj=on}} female caught at [[Nanjing]] in 2002 and the second a {{convert|3.52|m|ftin|adj=on}}, {{cvt|160|kg|lb}} female [[Bycatch|accidentally]] caught at [[Yibin]], Sichuan, on January 24, 2003, by fisherman Liu Longhua (刘龙华);<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=zh:"最后的长江白鲟"目击者：3.52米长 160公斤重 消失在宜宾江水中……-新华网 |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/local/2020-01/07/c_1125428621.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107055430/http://www.xinhuanet.com/local/2020-01/07/c_1125428621.htm |archive-date=January 7, 2020 |access-date=2020-01-09 |website=xinhuanet.com}}</ref> the former died despite attempts to save it and the latter was radio-tagged and released, but the tag stopped working after only 12 hours.<ref name="iucn" /><ref name="bbc20090929">{{Cite news |last=Bourton |first=Jody |date=2009-09-29 |title=Giant fish 'verges on extinction' |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |location=London |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8269000/8269414.stm# |url-status=live |access-date=2009-09-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120531091225/http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8269000/8269414.stm |archive-date=2012-05-31}}</ref>

During a search conducted in the Yangtze basin from 2006 to 2008, a research team from the [[Chinese Academy of Fisheries Science]] in [[Jingzhou]] failed to catch any paddlefish,<ref name="bbc20090929"/> but two possible specimens were recorded with [[Hydroacoustics|hydroacoustic]] signals.<ref>Zhang; Wei1, Q.W.; Du, H.; Shen, L.; Li, Y.H.; and Zhao, Y. (2009). ''Is there evidence that the Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) still survives in the upper Yangtze River? Concerns inferred from hydroacoustic and capture surveys, 2006–2008.'' Journal of Applied Ichthyology 25(s2): 95-99. [[doi:10.1111/j.1439-0426.2009.01268.x|DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0426.2009.01268.x]].</ref> A comprehensive study published in 2019, including scientists from the [[Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences|Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute]], found that the species was certainly extinct, based on its absence from extensive capture surveys of the Yangtze between 2017 and 2018. The paper estimated that the species went extinct between 2005 and 2010, but became [[Functional extinction|functionally extinct]] by 1993.<ref name="Zhang Jarić Roberts He 2020 p=136242" /><ref name="Yirka 2020">{{Cite web |last=Yirka |first=Bob |date=2020-01-08 |title=Chinese paddlefish declared extinct |url=https://phys.org/news/2020-01-chinese-paddlefish-declared-extinct.html |access-date=2020-01-09 |website=Phys.org |archive-date=8 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108181752/https://phys.org/news/2020-01-chinese-paddlefish-declared-extinct.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Cheung 2020">{{Cite web |last=Cheung |first=Eric |date=2020-01-07 |title=Up to 23 feet long, the Chinese paddlefish was the giant of the Yangtze. And we killed it |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/asia/chinese-paddlefish-extinct-study-intl-hnk-scli/index.html |access-date=2020-01-09 |website=CNN |archive-date=9 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109010819/https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/asia/chinese-paddlefish-extinct-study-intl-hnk-scli/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nationalgeographic.com">{{Cite web |date=2020-01-08 |title=Chinese paddlefish, one of world's largest fish, declared extinct |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/01/chinese-paddlefish-one-of-largest-fish-extinct/ |access-date=2020-01-09 |website=Animals |language=en |archive-date=8 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108130420/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/01/chinese-paddlefish-one-of-largest-fish-extinct/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The primary cause of its extinction was overfishing and the construction of dams along the Yangtze. The paddlefish was heavily overfished in all stages of growth from [[Juvenile fish|fry]] (which were easily captured by traditional fishing methods) to adult, which combined with the long generation time due to its slow maturation led to reduced sustainability of viable populations. Dam construction, notably the [[Gezhouba Dam]], which became operational in 1981, and the [[Three Gorges Dam]] landlocked and divided populations and prevented the spawning migration.<ref name="iucn" /> The paper thus recommended the reclassification of the species as [[Extinction|Extinct]] by the IUCN.<ref name=":0" /> A similar recommendation was also made by the Species Survival Commission Sturgeon Specialist Group of the IUCN in September 2019.<ref name=IUCN2019/>

The official IUCN status of the species was formally updated to "extinct" in July 2022.<ref name=Master2022/><ref name="iucn"/>