‘ Antidote' to the crunch

There were many people in Yichang, Central

China's Hubei Province, who spent the past weekend full of anticipation and hope, as they bid farewell to 10,000 Chinese sturgeons jumping into the Yangtze River, leaving their familiar captive breeding environments, swimming from Yichang to the middle and lower reaches, eventually entering the ocean and returning to the Yangtze again to spawn after 10 years.

“This was the first release since the 10- year fishing ban was applied in these pivotal waters of the Yangtze River. We all know that the Yangtze River is sick. A long- term fishing ban and release initiative may be the antidote,” a Yichang resident told the Global Times.

Since January 1, 2021, productive fishing of natural fishery resources was prohibited within the main stream and important tributaries of the Yangtze River, China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced in December 2019.

On March 1, the Yangtze River Protection Law came into effect, further promoting the implementation of the 10- year fishing ban policy at the legislative level.

“After considering for many years, the government finally made up its mind on banning fishing, indicating that the most critical time has come to protect the ecology of the Yangtze River,” Wang Yamin, an expert on fishery resource protection at Shandong University, told the Global Times.

The Yangtze River is one of the rivers with the richest aquatic biodiversity in the world, supporting approximately 424 species of fish, 183 of which are endemic. However, because of over- fishing and water pollution, the environment of aquatic organisms in the Yangtze River has continually deteriorated.

In the past several years, the resources of previously common domestic fish in the he Yangtze River have fallen to less than n onetenth compared to 30 or 40 years ago. Rare species, such as the he Yangtze River dolphin have yet to be seen since 2004.

The Chinese sturgeon and

Yangtze finless porpoise were also on the verge of extinction.

“The reproductive cycle of fish in the Yangtze River is about three to four years, compared to previous threemonth closed fishing season, n, a

10- year closed fishing period d can allow them to reproduce for r about three generations, which may lead d to a significant increase of these species,”

Wang said.