Freshwater Fisheries Research Center (FFRC) of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), affiliated to Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), is a comprehensive institution for fishery research and development, combining together scientific research, training and education, technology extension and information exchange. Since its establishment in 1978 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, the center had successively been named as “Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of State Fishery Administration Bureau”, “Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of CAFS”, etc. The current name was adopted in 1984. Ever since the end of National Eighth-Five Year Plan, FFRC has been on the list of the “One Hundred National Agricultural Research Institutions with Best Comprehensive Science and Technology”. In 2002, it was listed as the National S&T Innovation System and recognized as non-profit research institution by Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Ministry of Finance (MOF) and State Commission Office for Public Reform.

Currently, FFRC has 195 staff members, of which there are 145 research fellows, 2 chief scientists of the China Agricultural Research System of modern agricultural industry, 1 CAFS chief scientist, 55 senior research fellows, 3 enjoying the government specially-awarded stipends, and 24 supervisors for Ph.D and/or MSc program students.

FFRC is the leading institute for the Discipline Group of the Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fisheries and Germplasm Resources Utilization of MOA, and the China Agriculture Research Systems for Conventional Freshwater Fishes (CARS-46) and for Tilapia (CARS-49). It owns the Key Lab on Genetic Breeding and Aquaculture Biology for Freshwater Fishes, MOA, the Key Lab on Ecological Environment and Resources of Inland Fisheries, CAFS, and seven research departments for Bio-technologies, Genetics & Breeding, Fishery Environment Protection, Inland Fishery Resources Assessment & Stock Enhancement, Aquaculture, Veterinary, Feeds & Nutrition, and Fishery Economics and Information. Meanwhile, it has a Fishery Resources Monitoring Station of Lower Reaches of Yangtze River, MOA; Fishery Eco-environment Monitoring Center of Lower Reaches of Yangtze River, MOA; Designated Institution for Clinical Test on Fishery Medicines, MOA; Institution for Effectiveness Testing of Feed and Feed Addictive, MOA; Genetic Breeding Center for Fishes in the Lower Reaches of Yangtze River, MOA; Genetic & Breeding Center for Tilapia, MOA; Monitoring Station for Fishery Resource Environment in the Lower Reaches of Yangtze River, MOA; Monitoring Station for Aquatic Animal Feed and Nutrition, MOA; and Jiangsu provincial certified hatchery for improved river prawn.

Since its establishment, FFRC has been awarded with over 170 prizes, among which there are 7 national level prizes (3 of second-grade and 4 of third-grade) and over 50 provincial or ministerial level prizes; more than 1400 academic articles and 110 technical books have been published, and over 120 patents of invention been authorized.

As an important component of FFRC, Asia-Pacific Regional Research and Training Center for Integrated Fish Farming has been consecutively conducting international training programs for fishery officials and technicians since 1981. Up to now, around 2000 senior aquaculturists and managerial personnel from about 110 countries/regions have been trained. With joint efforts of FFRC and Nanjing Agricultural University, Wuxi Fisheries College (WFC) was set up in 1993. Currently, WFC has PhD and MSc degrees programs in aquaculture sciences and hydrobiology, and post-doctoral station for aquaculture research. For the past 20 years, about 40 PhD graduates, 320 MSc graduates and 1100 undergraduates have finished their education in WFC.