The Yangtze River is a treasure trove of fishery resources, the cradle of mainland freshwater fisheries, and the representative of global fish biodiversity, but the fish resources in the Yangtze River have been seriously declining, especially the Yangtze finless porpoise, which is an important indicator of water ecology, and other rare species are critically endangered. In 2021, as a strategic measure to promote the protection of the Yangtze River, the Yangtze River fully implemented a 10-year fishing ban. Over the past three years, the restoration of the ecological environment in the Yangtze River basin has been accelerating, and the ecological environment has been improving day by day. How have the fish in the Yangtze River changed in recent years?
Spring and Jingming, fish fly shallow bottom. This is a vivid scene three years after the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River was launched.
According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 4,300 kinds of aquatic organisms in the Yangtze River basin, including more than 400 kinds of fish, including more than 180 kinds of endemic fish of the Yangtze River, including the national first-class protected animals Chinese sturgeon, Yangtze River sturgeon and second-class protected animals such as cochineal, round-mouthed copperfish, long thin loach and other rare fish, and there are 127 kinds of rare special fish in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, of which the genus Schizophrenia is the most. The middle reaches are important habitats for the four major carp of blue, grass, silver carp and bighead carp. The lower reaches of the Yangtze River are important passages for the migration of saury, eels, anchovies, puffer fish and other fish. Although the Yangtze fish family is from a very strong family on the map, the Yangtze fish stocks were in serious decline before the 10-year fishing ban.
He is a researcher at the East China Sea Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and a vice chairman of the Yangtze River Aquatic Biological Science Committee Zhuang Ping: The total amount of fishery resources in the Yangtze River peaked at 450,000 tons in 1954, and has been declining year by year since then, reaching less than 100,000 tons before the Yangtze River is closed to fishing. The Yangtze sturgeon is extinct in the wild, and there are some species that have not been officially declared extinct for many years, such as the Yangtze shad anchovy.
On January 1, 2017, the state took the lead in implementing a total ban on fishing in the Chishui River, an important tributary of the Yangtze River, which runs through Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces.
On January 1, 2021, the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River was officially launched, and the scope of the fishing ban includes:
the main stream of the Yangtze River, the Yangtze River Estuary Fishing Ban Management Area, Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake and other lakes through the Yangtze River;
important tributaries such as Dadu River, Minjiang River, Tuojiang River, Chishui River, Jialing River, Wujiang River, and Hanjiang River;
There are also 332 aquatic life reserves in the Yangtze River basin, as well as other key waters that have been designated as being included in the fishing ban.
The protection of aquatic life in the Yangtze River has entered a new stage.
In April this year, the source of the Yangtze River was still covered in snow and the river was still frozen. Here, the encounter with the rare fish of the Yangtze River source, the small-headed naked splitjiri fish, made the scientific research team excited.
The Chishui River, where fishing was first banned, has seen firsthand the changes at the Fish Conservation Research Station.
The population of the Yangtze finless porpoise, a rare and endangered aquatic organism known as the barometer of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River, has also rebounded rapidly. In 2022, the population of the Yangtze finless porpoise reached 1,249, an increase of 237 from the 2017 census, achieving a historic rebound.
Now that the fishing ban has entered its fourth year, how has the fish in the Yangtze River changed?
Zhuang Ping, researcher at the East China Sea Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and vice chairman of the Yangtze River Aquatic Biological Science Committee: After the 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, 193 species of fish were monitored in the Yangtze River in 2022, and only 168 species were monitored before the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, an increase of 25 species. There are also some cases of fishery resources that have recovered significantly, and the recovery effect of saury resources through the three-year fishing ban is very significant. Another species of fish is the mandarin carp, which has disappeared for more than 20 years, but is now rediscovered in some lakes and main streams in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
The Yangtze River has been closed to fishing for more than three years, and it has been able to achieve important phased achievements, not just a ban. Efforts have been made to rescue rare fish and help them rebuild their populations in the wild.
Of the more than 400 species of fish distributed in the Yangtze River basin, 96 species are under key protection, such as the Yangtze sturgeon, which is one of the flagship and iconic species.
Historically, Yibin has been the breeding habitat of many rare fish such as the Chinese sturgeon and the Yangtze sturgeon. The Institute of Rare Aquatic Animals in Yibin, Sichuan Province, successfully bred hundreds of Yangtze sturgeon fry for the first time, and then made a major breakthrough in large-scale artificial breeding of Yangtze sturgeon. Their results have laid the foundation for the conservation and rebuilding of the Yangtze sturgeon population.
The adaptation of captive-bred Yangtze sturgeon into the Yangtze River will directly affect its wild population reconstruction.
Not long ago, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences went down the Jinsha River to conduct experiments on the rebuilding of the Yangtze sturgeon's population in the wild.
Natural reproduction in the wild is an important part of the recovery of the Yangtze sturgeon population in the wild. Since 2000, researchers have not monitored any signs of natural reproduction of the Yangtze sturgeon in the wild. Helping the Yangtze sturgeon build a field delivery house so that they can reproduce naturally in the wild has always been a key topic for researchers.
The Yibin section of the Yangtze River has always been the traditional habitat and spawning ground of the Yangtze sturgeon, and now, the artificial natural water spawning ground is also here. In 2023, researchers will carry out the Yangtze River sturgeon population reconstruction experiment here for the first time, using artificial ovaries to guide the Yangtze sturgeon to lay eggs and mate and fertilize through precise regulation, so as to achieve the successful artificial control and reproduction of the Yangtze sturgeon in natural waters.
In order to make the Yangtze sturgeon actively spawn and reproduce, researchers continue to explore. This is a new experiment this year, in which researchers removed artificial ovaries and switched to fishing nets to build artificial spawning grounds in natural waters, but such an attempt was unsuccessful. After the spawning grounds were transformed with pebbles, the good news soon came that researchers had documented the natural breeding behavior of the Yangtze sturgeon.
Zhuang Ping, researcher at the East China Sea Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and vice chairman of the Yangtze River Aquatic Bioscience Committee: The Yangtze sturgeon has been declared extinct in the wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Fortunately, this wish has been initially realized, which has increased great hope for the rescue of the Yangtze sturgeon, and has preliminarily confirmed that this technical route is feasible and can be implemented.
Since the implementation of the 10-year fishing ban, the restoration of aquatic biological resources and biodiversity in the Yangtze River has been improving. The protection of the Yangtze River is a huge systematic project, and it is necessary to restore the fishery resources of the Yangtze River and maintain the ecological balance of the Yangtze River. Among them, in addition to the continuous exploration of scientific researchers, people from all walks of life form a joint force, and common protection also plays a vital role.
At present, although the amount of aquatic biological resources and the number of species in the Yangtze River are generally showing a positive trend, some rare and endangered species are still in an endangered state due to the slow recovery rate due to their long life history and the destruction of their habitat environment.
The population of the Chinese sturgeon, a first-class key protected aquatic wild animal in the mainland, has declined sharply since the 80s of the 20th century. Although in 1983 the mainland banned commercial fishing of Chinese sturgeons and launched restocking, this did not stop the decline of Chinese sturgeon populations. Since 2017, only a dozen Chinese sturgeons have been monitored each year in the Yangtze River.
Recently, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Unswervingly Promoting the Ten-Year Fishing Ban on the Yangtze River", emphasizing the need to effectively promote the rescue action plan of rare and endangered aquatic organisms such as the Chinese sturgeon, the Yangtze sturgeon and the Yangtze finless porpoise.
Zhuang Ping, researcher at the East China Sea Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and vice chairman of the Yangtze River Aquatic Biological Science Committee: Although we have made a breakthrough in the artificial reproduction of the Chinese sturgeon, this artificial reproduction is not complete, it is only cultivated in freshwater, and the life history of the Chinese sturgeon is to migrate long distances between the river and the sea. Artificial reproduction, reproduction and release is actually a last resort, and it is necessary to meet the basic ecological and environmental conditions of natural spawning and reproduction of Chinese sturgeon through hydrological and ecological dispatch and habitat restoration as soon as possible, so as to realize the natural spawning and reproduction of Chinese sturgeon in the Yangtze River, and finally maintain the wild population of Chinese sturgeon.
The Yangtze River has achieved remarkable results in the first three years of the 10-year fishing ban, and there is still a long way to go to rebuild and restore more fish stocks in the wild.
Zhuang Ping, researcher of the East China Sea Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and vice chairman of the Yangtze River Aquatic Biological Science Committee: The decline of the Yangtze River's aquatic biological resources is caused by many factors, and we must continue to use a scientific attitude and scientific methods to deal with it and carry out research, truly grasp the ecological law of the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River, and guide the smooth development of the next fishing ban.
The ten-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River is beneficial to the ecology, people's livelihood and long-term. After more than three years of intensive tackling and continuous advancement, the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River has achieved important phased results. However, the Yangtze River fishing ban is a long-term, complex and arduous historical task, and the current Yangtze River can only be said to be "curing from a serious illness", while seeing the effectiveness of the fishing ban, we must be more soberly aware that we continue to consolidate the results of the fishing ban and accelerate the restoration of the river basin ecology There are still many problems and challenges, and it is far from the time to beat gongs and drums to celebrate the victory. For the sake of the overall situation and for the sake of future generations, the ten-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, a strategic measure that will benefit the present and future generations, requires us to unswervingly persist and work for a long time.
Source: CCTV News