Yangtze Runs Out of Fish

During an inspection of the Yangtze River in April 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the river’s Fish Index of Biological Integrity has dropped to the level of “no fish” – the lowest on the six-scale ecological measuring system based on the fish population. Data shows that the annual fish catch from the river plummeted from 420,000 tons in 1954 to 100,000 tons in 2018. In early 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs released a 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River and its tributaries and a compensation plan for 280,000 fishermen to start from 2020. It aims to increase the diversity of aquatic species, recover fish resources and improve the ecology of the river. Experts cautioned that it is difficult to eradicate illegal fishing activities on the river which flows for 6,300 kilometers in 11 provinces at a time when the cost of illegal fishing is low because of loopholes in the law. What’s more, at least 50,000 dams were built in the river basin including 20,000 hydropower stations which have a huge impact on fish species.