The Yangtze River has a unique ecosystem that nurtures more than 4,300 species of aquatic organisms and is an important ecological treasure house in China. However, due to the long-term impact of human activities, the aquatic biological resources of the Yangtze River have declined, and once reached the situation of "no fish in the Yangtze River"; the natural habitats of rare and endangered species such as the Chinese sturgeon, the Yangtze River finless porpoise, and the Yangtze River sturgeon have been destroyed, and the white sturgeon has been declared functionally extinct.
In order to curb the further deterioration of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River, from January 1, 2021, the key waters of the Yangtze River Basin have opened a 10-year fishing ban period. So a year has passed, how is the effect of the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River ↓↓↓
These pictures have been recorded by citizens and photography enthusiasts in the northern section of the Yangtze River since this year: in the Yichang River section, the citizens recorded the scene of the porpoise jumping out of the river; this is the scene of the finless porpoise swimming with the waterbird photographed by photography enthusiasts; in the Shishou River section, the elk collectively galloping is shocking.
Zhang Hui, a staff member of the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will detect the traces of fish and Chinese sturgeon in the Yangtze River from November to February of the following year, and it can be seen from this year's monitoring data that the fish resources of the Yangtze River have been restored.
Zhang Hui, Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Now there are more fish, and there are more signals.
Wang Ding, researcher of the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Chinese and secretary general of the National Committee for Biosphere: It should be said that it is of great help to restore the aquatic biodiversity, integrity and richness of the entire Yangtze River.
In the 1950s, the average annual catch of fishery resources in the Yangtze River reached 450,000 tons. In recent years, the average annual catch has been less than 100,000 tonnes. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, since 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has organized a survey of aquatic biological resources in the Yangtze River Basin, comprehensive literature records and survey results, and there are more than 400 kinds of fish in the history of the Yangtze River, belonging to 18 orders and 36 families, but more than 100 species of fish are currently difficult to collect. The white sturgeon and white sturgeon have been functionally extinct, the Chinese sturgeon has not bred naturally for 4 consecutive years since 2017, and only 1012 Yangtze River finless porpoises remain.
In 2017, the Chishui River, a first-class tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, took the lead in implementing a total ban on fishing, and at present, the number of endemic fish species that can be collected has risen from 32 before the ban to 37 species.
Zhao Yimin, deputy director of the Fishery Administration Supervision and Administration Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the JiangSu River Basin: The ten-year fishing ban is a basic need for the ban on fishing, and it is also a timetable for biodiversity restoration. In fact, biodiversity is a multi-level work, with genes, species, communities, and ecology. The systematic restoration of a healthy and complete ecosystem is our fundamental goal.
When will the Chinese sturgeon population return?
Chinese sturgeon is one of the flagship species of the Yangtze River, in order to save and protect the Chinese sturgeon, the relevant state departments organized the preparation of the Chinese sturgeon rescue action plan, and carried out a series of protection actions such as promoting the level of protected areas, promoting artificial breeding, implementing breeding and stocking, and mobilizing social forces. However, the protection situation of Chinese sturgeon is very serious, and the road to returning the Chinese sturgeon population to the Yangtze River is still long.
Jin Zhu: The 2021 Chinese sturgeon spawning field investigation was launched in early November, and the staff of the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute told us that from 2017 to 2020, they did not monitor the spawning behavior of Chinese sturgeon. So will there be a welcome change this year? We followed the research vessel of the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute to the spawning site of the Chinese sturgeon, that is, near Gezhouba, to see the situation here.
The Yichang Yangtze River section of the Chinese sturgeon nature reserve is a total of 60 kilometers, and after a few days of searching, researchers have only found signals of more than a dozen Chinese sturgeon.
Wei Qiwei, director of the Key Laboratory of Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs: This year's signal is being searched, which may be a little more than last year, but it is not very much. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether Chinese sturgeon lays eggs or not, if Chinese sturgeon does not spawn naturally, there is no natural population.
According to the monitoring of researchers, the natural breeding of Chinese sturgeon has been interrupted since 2013, and the changes in overfishing, shipping and spawning sites have all led to the decline of the natural population of Chinese sturgeon year by year. If this continues, the natural population of chinese sturgeon is on the verge of extinction.
Wei Qiwei, director of the Key Laboratory of Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs: It is urgent to enable its natural population to grow and maximize artificial breeding and stocking. Our theoretical calculation is that it takes 3 million tails (per year) to return to the level of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In April this year, 10,000 Chinese sturgeon were released in the Yichang section of the Yangtze River, and from March to October, more than 30,000 Chinese sturgeon were released in three times in the Jingzhou section of the Yangtze River. According to data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, more than 7 million Chinese sturgeon have been released so far, but it is still far from the target number of Chinese sturgeon populations.
Jingzhou Taihu Lake Experimental Field, Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, is the largest artificial breeding base for Chinese sturgeon in China, with a total of more than 800 Chinese sturgeon generations and more than 100,000 Chinese sturgeon second generations. However, due to the gradual aging of hardware settings and breeding tools, as well as funds, excessive breeding density and other reasons, the breeding of Chinese sturgeon is limited.
Zhao Yimin, deputy director of the Fishery Administration Supervision and Administration Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Jiang River Basin: The input cannot keep up, and the more it is raised, the more difficult it is. At present, for the Chinese sturgeon, there still needs to be a long-term, effective and continuous financial support, and there must also be an institutional arrangement.
Is the porpoise's home safe?
Known as the "most beautiful smile" of the Yangtze River, this cute aquatic animal has been officially upgraded to a national first-class protected wild animal this year. In recent years, through a variety of measures such as in situ conservation and ex situ protection, we have seen more finless porpoises active in the waters of the Yangtze River. However, the water quality of some protected areas has deteriorated, illegal fishing and other phenomena still exist, and the homes of finless porpoises are not safe.
In 2006, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs organized experts to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the possible distribution range of the entire Yangtze River finless porpoise. The population at that time was estimated at 1800 heads, a decrease of more than half compared to the estimates at the beginning of 1990. In order to protect the Yangtze River finless porpoise, since the end of 2016, the state has promoted the establishment of 8 Yangtze River finless porpoise nature reserves, 5 ex situ conservation groups and 3 fully artificial breeding groups, with a total of more than 150 expat groups.
Hubei Swanzhou Dolphin National Nature Reserve is one of them, which includes the 89-kilometer section of the Yangtze River and the 21-kilometer Swanzhou Ancient Road.
Yangtze River Swan Zhou Baiji Dolphin National Nature Reserve Management Office Patrol Management Section Tao Le: The first work we have done is to implement the yangtze River in situ protection of finless porpoises. In the Shishou River section, we first intervened in the construction of some of the passing boats, requiring them to minimize their impact on the finless porpoise. Judging from the effectiveness of in-situ conservation, about 20 finless porpoises can be found in the Shishou Yangtze River section every year.
At the same time of in situ protection, the reserve and the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly organized the relocation of 3 females, 2 males and 5 finless porpoises into the Yangtze River SwanZhou Old Road, and began to try out ex situ protection. By the end of April 2021, the number of finless porpoises moving in and breeding in the Swan Island Old Road has reached 101.
Wang Ding, researcher at the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Swan Island itself used to be part of the Yangtze River, so its natural environment is very close to the Yangtze River, and later it was found that the finless porpoise grows and lives very well in it, not only can survive, but also can successfully reproduce. At least protect this species, this population.
According to the figures obtained by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in the 2012 and 2017 Yangtze River dolphin scientific expeditions, the number of finless porpoises is about 1012, and the number of finless porpoises is basically the same in five years, and the trend of sharp decline of finless porpoises has been curbed. But critical endangerment has not changed. In the 2021 edition of the List of Wild Animals under National Key Protection, the protection level of the Yangtze River finless porpoise has been adjusted from level two to level one. At the same time, some finless porpoise sanctuaries are also facing the threat of water pollution.
Yangtze River Swan Zhou Baiji Dolphin National Nature Reserve Management Department Patrol Management Section Tao Le: Swan Zhou Old Road was previously the main main stream of the Yangtze River, in 1999 built a levee, the Swan Zhou Old Road and the Yangtze River formed a barrier, so now the relationship with the Yangtze River is not particularly smooth. However, some non-point source pollution around the (old road), some domestic emissions, it will pour into the waters of our Swan Island Conservation Area, which will cause some damage to the water quality.
Zeng Qiang, chief engineer of the Baiji Dolphin National Nature Reserve in the Xinluo section of the Yangtze River: We must control some illegal human activities, including illegal fishing, illegal sand mining, illegal docks, and illegal sewage discharge.
At present, local governments have realized the threat posed by the decline in water quality to the finless porpoise and are doing their best to protect the living environment of the finless porpoise by building a sewage treatment system and planting aquatic plants.
Wang Ding, researcher at the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: The Yangtze River finless porpoise is a top organism, that is to say, it is at the top of the food chain, and its condition actually reflects the status of the entire aquatic biodiversity, that is to say, the status of the entire Yangtze River ecosystem. In this sense, to protect the Yangtze River finless porpoise is to protect the Yangtze River.
Who is still fishing illegally?
2021 is the first year that the Yangtze River Protection Law has come into effect, and all kinds of illegal fishing and illegal sand mining activities have been curbed. However, with the recovery of fishery resources, more and more people are fishing, and correspondingly, illegal fishing has been repeatedly prohibited, and the difficulty of supervision has increased.
The Opinions on Strengthening the Law Enforcement and Management of the Prohibition of Fishing in the Yangtze River Basin issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in March 2020 stipulates that all localities should delimit the scope of permitted fishing areas in accordance with the law, reasonably control the overall scale of fishing, and strictly limit fishing tackle, fishing methods, and fishing bait. In principle, the number of fishing tackles is allowed to use a maximum of one rod and one hook per person. However, the reporter learned in the interview that the phenomenon of illegal fishing is still repeatedly prohibited.
On the evening of November 14, 2021, the Yichang Fishery Administration Supervision Detachment discovered illegal fishing during its inspection of the riverside.
In addition to this terrible flap hook, there are some techniques that are more stealthy and more dangerous.
It is understood that due to the recovery of fishery resources brought about by the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, more and more people are fishing.
He Guangwen, head of the Yichang Fishery Administration Supervision Detachment: According to the data of the Yichang Fishing Association, there are more than 7,000 registered fishing enthusiasts, and it is estimated that there are tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, who have not registered with the Fishing Association. We once did a statistic that the 60 km Chinese sturgeon reserve below Gezhouba in Yichang has about 2,000 people fishing dynamically every day.
Mo Hongyuan, deputy head of the Yichang Fishery Administration Supervision Detachment: Through the investigation at the beginning of the year and several scientific research institutes, like the Changjiang River section of Yichang, the increase in fishery resources is quite obvious, and there have been a large number of fish and fish floods. This kind of fishing for the purpose of fishing is very large, and it is very easy for a person to fish for a hundred pounds a day.
Mo Hongyuan introduced that before the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, there were about 200 fishing boats in the urban area of Yichang, and one boat could catch about 2,000 kilograms of fish per year.
Mo Hongyuan, deputy head of the Yichang Fishery Administration Supervision Detachment: 200 boats is 200 tons. If we don't have a standard for fishing, this number will always be more than enough, and the scale of fishing now is no smaller than the scale of natural fishing.
Zhao Yimin, deputy director of the Fishery Administration Supervision and Management Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Yangtze River Basin: In the past year or so, one of the more obvious problems reflected is that there is a gray area, that is, fishing. With the increase of fish, the number of people fishing is also increasing, so the impact on the ecology of the water, the results of the hard-to-prohibit harvest, it is easy to be taken away by anglers.
Illegal fishing points are multi-faceted, difficult to find, difficult to manage, coupled with the absence of corresponding penalties, in the face of the phenomenon of illegal fishing, fishery law enforcement personnel can only confiscate non-compliant fishing hooks and fishing rods, verbal persuasion.
Zhao Yimin, deputy director of the Fishery Administration Supervision and Administration Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Jiang River Basin: We are also studying whether we can come up with some measures that can be banned, controlled, and operational. With the fact that our no-fishing area is now grid management, and an information system has been established, coupled with the application of modern technology Apps, or the gradual formation and improvement of local fishing management methods, fishing should be standardized and orderly, and can be managed.
Source: CCTV News