Striving for long- term welfare
Li Chunmei, secretary of the village committee of Baishuigang Village in Yidu, Central China's Hubei Province, happily said that the villagers are adapting well after returning ashore from fishing. But Li will never forget the day when the fishing boats were towed ashore. Dozens of fishermen, with tears in their eyes, touched the fishing boat that had accompanied them for decades. Fortunately, the local authorities have actively assisted fishermen in their resettlement. In addition to giving those who surrender their fishing boats and gears a one- off financial compensation of over 200,000 yuan ($ 30,562), the authorities have also developed and implemented a series of resettlement policies, including assistance with employment, and the introduction of full coverage pension insurance, and monthly living allowances. At Poyang Lake in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Zhang Baosheng, a fisherman in his fifties now runs a restaurant featuring traditiona traditional fishermen cuisine.
“In the past past, we had dwindling incomes from fishing. After giving givin up fishing, I took out rural social insurance, alongside al the subsidy from the government. When business is good, I can earn over 100,000 yua yuan ($ 15,264) a year,” Zhang said. Former fisherman Chen Hualin bought a bigger cleaning ship with the help of local authorities after handing in his fishing boat and set up a cleaning company, which provides garbage and sewage recycling services for cargo ships waiting to pass through the dam in Yichang. He disposes up to 180 tons of waste per month with a monthly income of over 70,000 yuan ($ 10,700).
“I'm still working on the Yangtze, but not to hurt b but to protect her. I feel very fulfilled,” Chen told the Global Times.
Statistic Statistics showed that as of January 31, 2021, China had fully funded funde 25.167 billion yuan ($ 3.84 billion) in compensation and subsidies to those who have withdrawn from fishing fishing. In th the key waters, 129,743 people have been transferred to other industries ( accounting for 99.76% of the base number waiting to be transferred to other industries), and 171,626 people have been guaranteed social security.
“A lot of research and effort went in before the ban, because we cannot just look at the decade ahead, but must prepare for the long haul,” Wang said, adding that it is a courageous decision for China to exchange the economic gains of the Yangtze River fisheries for ecological restoration, and the well- being of the people alongside the river.
In the next stage, normalizing the illegal fishing crackdown, further rolling out a slew of measures to take care of the fishermen's welfare, and strengthening scientific research and monitoring of ecological restoration in the Yangtze River Basin will be the focus of our work, Wang said.