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NANCHANG, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Illegal enclosures that should have been brought under control are still visible, poaching is rampant in waters where fishing should have been prohibited, and sparkling lakes have been turned into farmland and pastures......
A few days ago, the reporter of "Xinhua Viewpoint" accompanied the third central ecological and environmental protection inspection team in Nanchang, Jiujiang, Shangrao and other places in the Poyang Lake District of Jiangxi Province and found that the illegal low fence control in the waters of Poyang Lake is a mere formality, and a large number of illegal low fences are still threatening the protection and restoration of Poyang Lake.
Illegal squirrels are still visible
Dwarf dam usually refers to a low dam built in a lake. It encloses a body of water, either encloses a lake to create land for farming, or holds back water to build a pond for fishing and aquaculture. The low fence will block the connection of rivers and lakes, affecting the water quality of the lake area.
In August 2020, the relevant state departments requested to carry out a special rectification of illegal dwarf enclosures in the Yangtze River basin, and to clean up and ban the illegal dwarf enclosures set up for fishing and breeding in key waters, so as to achieve a comprehensive investigation and clear all the enclosures.
However, when the reporter went to the Poyang Lake Nanji Wetland National Nature Reserve with the inspection team on May 14, he found that although the water level of Poyang Lake has risen sharply recently, it was found through drone aerial photography that a large number of low embankments that should have been basically cleared in April 2021 are still clearly visible.
On April 9, the inspection team photographed the illegal low fence in the Poyang Nanji Wetland National Nature Reserve (drone aerial photography)
The illegal management of low enclosure is a mere formality, which is one of the main problems in the ecological and environmental protection of Poyang Lake.
The reporter learned from the inspection team that in the special rectification of illegal low fences in the Yangtze River Basin, the waters of Poyang Lake are reported by the township and county-level governments themselves, and then the relevant departments at the provincial level supervise and carry out centralized rectification.
"During the whole process, no department carried out identification and investigation of the low fence outside the scope of the report. Judging from the situation of this inspector's secret inspection, there are still many illegal low fences. Said a member of the inspection team.
In April this year, when the inspection team made an unannounced inspection, Langbu Wei, Poyang County, with an area of about 2,000 acres, was discharging tail water for aquaculture, and the monitoring results showed that the water quality was inferior to Class V. There are still breeding behaviors in the Hongxing Wei of Gongqing City, Jiujiang City, which has been renovated, and manure is also used for fertilizer water. After the inspection team's unannounced inspection, the local government investigated again and found 44 illegal dwarf fences used for aquaculture.
According to reports, there are still a large number of low fences in the waters of Poyang Lake to be investigated and rectified.
Experts said that the low fence has blocked the connection of natural rivers and lakes, and artificial breeding has caused serious water pollution in the surrounding waters; During this year's "May Day" period, after heavy rains and when the lake water rises sharply, these sewage flows into the lake, which directly affects the quality of the water body.
Enclosing lakes and creating land endangers the quality of water bodies
The water law clearly stipulates that it is forbidden to enclose lakes for land reclamation. In November 2021, the guidance of relevant state departments on strengthening the protection and governance of important lakes in the Yangtze River Economic Belt was clear, prohibiting land reclamation from lakes and orderly implementing the return of land to lakes.
The reporter and the inspection team went to the vicinity of Dashafang in Nanchang County and saw that although some of the reclaimed land has been covered by Poyang Lake, the traces of previous cultivation are still obvious, and a large amount of construction waste has been used to fill the road connecting the low fence and the embankment on the shore.
On April 15, the inspection team captured images in the waters of the Shacha River on the border between Nanchang City's Xinjian District and Nanchang County, where the tidal flat wetland was reclaimed for commercial lawn planting, and most of the spring lawn had been sold and delivered. (Drone aerial photography)
"These are all plots of land used to grow commercial lawns, and the water level of Poyang Lake has not risen at the time of our preliminary investigation, and the turf on them is very clear." Members of the inspection team said that there are many such cases in the local area.
In 2021, Yugan County, Shangrao City, will drain the water surface of 857 acres of lakes in Tangbeiwei and turn them into farmland after filling in the soil; The low enclosure of Mopanzhou in Nanchang County should be returned to the lake, but the polder embankment was re-blocked, and the 2,500 acres of lakes and tidal flats in the low enclosure were turned into farmland......
The large amount of land reclaimed for farming has not only led to a significant reduction in the water area of the lake, but is also an important source of pollution in Poyang Lake.
In recent years, the total phosphorus concentration in Poyang Lake has not reached the standard of Class III water in the lake reservoir. According to the investigation of the inspection team, in 2023, only 5 of the 18 state-controlled sections in the lake area will meet the total phosphorus concentration standard; The total phosphorus concentration in the 9 sections increased year-on-year, with a maximum increase of 39.6%.
In Nanchang County and Yongxiu County, at the site of the farmland ridge reclaimed in the lake area, waste pesticide packaging can be seen everywhere; The monitoring results showed that the total phosphorus concentration of farmland ditch water exceeded the standard of class III water in the lake reservoir by 3 to 13 times. Some large local growers said that they have been using chemical fertilizers all the time and have not taken any measures to reduce the amount.
On April 18, the inspection team found that a large number of cattle were grazing on the reclamation land of Zhoutan in Gouweizhoutan, Yugan County, Shangrao City. (Drone aerial photography)
In addition, this reporter saw in some reclamation areas in the lake area that the provisions of the "Regulations on Environmental Protection of the Poyang Lake Ecological Economic Zone" on the closure of the island and the prohibition of grazing have not been strictly enforced, and there are still many animal husbandry activities.
"During our unannounced inspection, we saw that there were still livestock breeding problems in the wetlands, with piles of manure and sewage flowing sideways. This sewage is discharged directly into the lake without professional treatment, which is very harmful to the quality of the water body. Said a member of the inspection team.
The ban on fishing is not in place, which has affected the "national treasure" finless porpoise
The Yangtze finless porpoise, the world's only freshwater subspecies of finless porpoise, is a national first-class protected animal, known as the "living fossil" and "giant panda in the water" of the Yangtze River ecology, only distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake and other areas.
"We saw the finless porpoise, but it wasn't what we wanted to see." Pointing to an aerial photo, a member of the inspection team said, "This is a small finless porpoise trapped in an oil-contaminated area." ”
On March 24, the inspection team took pictures at the construction site of the comprehensive wharf in the Shashan operation area of Xingzi Port District, Jiujiang Port, Jiangxi Province (screenshot of drone photography). Experts from the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences determined that a juvenile finless porpoise was trapped in the oil.
This is the picture taken by the inspection team at the end of March at the construction site of the comprehensive wharf in the Shashan operation area of Xingzi Port District, Jiujiang Port, Jiangxi Province. It is only 2.7 kilometers away from the core area of the Yangtze finless porpoise provincial nature reserve in Poyang Lake, and the construction should avoid the fish breeding season from March to June.
However, during an unannounced inspection at the end of March, members of the inspection team found that the construction of the integrated wharf was being carried out in violation of regulations, and the sediment produced by the dredging had blown part of the shore waters into land. On March 22 and 24, two oil spills occurred from the dredging vessels, and the construction unit failed to take emergency measures to allow the oil pollution to pollute the surrounding lake.
It is understood that from 2022 to 2023, five finless porpoises were found dead in Poyang Lake from fishing nets and fishing line entanglement, accounting for 20% of the number of finless porpoises that have been counted dead in the past two years.
Behind the "injured" finless porpoise is the lack of local requirements for banning fishing in key waters.
In 2019, the Jiangxi provincial authorities clarified that the scope of the fishing ban in Poyang Lake is the waterline of the lake body and the waters within the mouth of the five rivers, but in the inflection point coordinates announced in April 2021, some low-enclosed areas are not included in the fishing ban.
At the end of March this year, members of the inspection team found during an unannounced investigation in the Lake District of Lushan City, Jiujiang City, that there were a large number of fish thieves who used dragnets and electric fish to illegally fish in the 10,000-mu Changhu Wei.
The protection of the Yangtze River is in the present and beneficial in the future. The key to how to turn ecological redlines into ecological dividends lies in local governments.
A few days ago, this reporter saw in some of the problematic waters of Poyang Lake that some rectification work has begun. Some illegal structures are being demolished, large herds of cattle are being returned to land, and plants are being removed from the land.
Experts suggest that through this inspection, the relevant local departments should carry out centralized investigation and rectification of the problem of illegal low enclosure in the key waters of Poyang Lake, effectively solve the long-standing problems in the protection and restoration of Poyang Lake, and realize the two-way promotion of ecological environmental protection and economic development.
Xinhua News Agency "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporters Liu Kaixiong and Min Zuntao
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