Over 6 million fish are to be released annually into a northwest section of the Yellow River from 2008 to help restore the river's biological resources, according to a Ningxia government official.

China has invested about 3 million yuan (US$375,000) in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to build an endangered aquatics salvation center for incubation and breeding purposes.

When the project is finished in 2008, Ningxia will release 5 million carp and 1 million catfish each year, said the official with the fishery bureau of the Ningxia Agriculture and Husbandry Department.

The center will also seek ways to preserve endangered fish species like the golden rainbow trout and northern bronzed gudgeon.

The Ningxia section of the Yellow River runs 397 kilometers with an annual flux of 32.56 billion cubic meters.

In recent years, pollution and over-fishing have reduced the number of fish in the river and threatened biological diversity. Fishermen have seen the quantity of their catches drop. The regional government has imposed a fishing ban from May 1 to July 31 each year since 2003.