The Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute (PRFRI), Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS) is a national fishery research organization affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MOA), China. Originated from the Fishery Research Institute, Bureau of Fisheries, Department of Agriculture and Forestry of Guangdong Province in 1953, the Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute, State General Bureau of Fisheries was established in 1979, with its name officially changed into PRFRI in 1982. In 2016, the Administration of Ocean and Fisheries of Guangdong Province and PRFRI, the support organization, co-established the Guangdong Freshwater Fisheries Research Institute.

Constantly targeting at the Three Rural Issues in different eras, PRFRI undertakes the mission of performing basic and applied researches and pursuing advances in development of fisheries in the Pearl River and tropical and subtropical zones. Research priorities are aquatic germplasm resources and genetic breeding, aquaculture and nutrition, aquatic disease control and prevention, aquatic laboratory animals, conservation and restoration of fisheries resources, fisheries environmental assessment and protection, recreational fishing, and aquatic product quality and safety, currently focusing researches on transgenic research, aquatic invasions and biosecurity and other emerging scientific fields. Additionally, since 2015 PRFRI has assumed the Office of the Pearl River Fishery Management Council.

PRFRI consists of 7 administrative departments, 8 laboratories and 3 enterprises. The departments are the General Office, the Office of CPC Committee, the Department of Human Resources, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Extension, the Department of Finance, the Department of Infrastructure while the laboratories are the Laboratory of Aquatic Germplasm Resources and Genetic Breeding, the Laboratory of Aquaculture and Nutrition, the Laboratory of Aquatic Disease Control and Prevention, the Laboratory of Fisheries Resources and Ecology, the Laboratory of Fisheries Environmental Protection, the Laboratory of Aquatic Biotechnology, the Laboratory of Ornamental Fisheries, and the Laboratory of Aquatic Product Quality and Safety and Standardization. With a workforce of 260 in-service employees, PRFRI consists of 185 permanent, 138 retired and 24 temporary. 154 professionals include 23 professors and 35 associate professors, 36 doctoral or master’s supervisors and 13 receiving special government allowances of the State Council. PRFRI was commended as the CAFS Scientific and Technological Innovation Team, having 1 senior expert in direct contact with the Central, 3 experts entitled as the CAFS Young/Middle-aged Talent and 1 as the Outstanding Young/Middle-aged Expert of MOA, 12 recruited into the CAFS Hundred-Talent Program, and 1 granted by the Ganpo Talent 555 Project. Numerous were honored as the Fisheries Representatives in the Three Rural Affairs in the 60^thAnniversary of the People's Republic of China, awarded with the National and Provincial May Day Labor Certificate, and nominated as the Women's Day Red Flag Representative or the Women Leader in Technology.