Experts from China and Hungary jointly held a workshop from Nov. 7 to 10 in Hefei, Anhui province, to conduct a comparative study between Chaohu Lake in China and Lake Balaton in Hungary.

The workshop was supported by the governmental S&T cooperation program between China and Hungary. Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB), CAS and Budapest University of Technology and Economics were ratified to implement the program during 2009 and 2010. The workshop also received support from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology and the State Key Laboratory of Freshwater and Biotechnology.

The theme of the workshop was "Restoration of Large Shallow Eutrophic lakes: Mechanisms and Technologies”. IHB Prof. ZHOU Yiyong chaired the meeting and a four-member Hungarian delegation led by Prof. Vera Istvánovics attended this workshop. Experts from Chinese universities and other CAS institutes joined the workshop. 

The two lakes are both large shallow lakes and about the same size. At the workshop, scientists had an extensive and in-depth discussion on the mechanisms and restoration technologies of eutrophic lakes. They centered on China’s large shallow eutrophic lakes such as Chaohu Lake (the largest lake in Anhui and one of the five largest freshwater lakes in China). They approached the topic from different angles, like wetland conservation, characteristics of cyanobacterial bloom and fish behavior.

The Hungarian experts later had a field survey at the location where the restoration pilot project of the littoral zone of Chaohu Lake is being constructed by the Institute of Hydrobiology. They also visited Chaohu Field Station of the institute and put forward beneficial suggestions for the construction.

The two parties reached a preliminary agreement on future cooperation and academic exchanges.