Fisherman Qin Junfa woke up pretty early on July 1. After taking the fishing gear out of the cabin, he began to cast his fishing nets and fish in the Yangtze River. That day was unusual for him because it was the first time to catch fish since the implementation of annual three-month spring fishing ban in Yichang Section of the Yangtze River that lasts from April 1 to July1, during which no fisherman is allowed to fish in the Section of the Yangtze River. Having nothing to do in this period, to get a part-time job becomes his main means to maintain his livelihood. National ecological protection policy like this, Qin, one of the five thousand fishermen living on fishing in Yichang, has never failed to abide by over twelve years.
The fishing ban help slow down the pace of deterioration and reduction of the fishery resources.
Yichang Section of the Yangtze River is rich in freshwater fish resources. 124 fishes including class I and class Ⅱ national protected aquatic animals such as Chinese sturgeon, acipenser dabryanus, paddlefish, common sucker and other species can be found there.
In 2002 the State Council issued the decree to impose spring fishing ban on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in order to protect fishery resources and aquatic ecological environment. And Yichang Section takes the lead in implementing this law. Before 2002 throughout the 232 kilometers Yichang Section there were as much as 5000 professionals with 2400 fishing boats engaging in fishing ever since their early years. For this reason, the ban at first faced strong opposition among these boatmen. Despite of this, officials in charge of fishery repeatedly dropped in their homes one by one by means of persuasion and education and assuring them that the government would offer them assistance in finding jobs during that period.
For the past twelve years, apart from living allowances and fuel subsidies based on the number of ships, 1200 fishermen have taken part in the government-funded Project Sunshine training. Take the 282 fishermen in urban area for example, this year’s standard for living allowances is 2400 RMB per ship, if plus the fuel subsidies, each ship can yearly receive more than 6000 RMB.
Shipping downstream on the deck of the fishery law-enforcement vessel, Yi Xianchao, the Vice Director of Yichang Fishery Division, pointed at the surface of the Yangtze River the moment the patrol vessel sailed under the Yiling Yangtze River Bridge and said proudly: “Last year in this section, the scientific investigation team spotted the finless porpoises again that had rarely seen. I am pretty sure that more than ten years’ practice of spring fishing ban has effectively slowed down the pace of deterioration and reduction of the fishery resources in the Yangtze River.”
The Cat-and-mouse Game over the Fishing Ban
Direct discharge of sewage without treatment, illegal mining of river sand and illegal fishing have become three main reasons for the deterioration of the ecological system of the Yangtze River. And the illegal fishing in particular such as electro-fishing (a fishing method by discharging a lethal electric current into the water, killing everything in it for 20 meters around the boat), fishing by poisoning the river and fishing with the help of the explosive is the most harmful illegal action.
“The rarer a thing is, the more it is worth. So is the case of wild freshwater fish whose price is soaring to historical high with yearly decreasing number, which leads to the rampant illegal fishing. Before 2009 the trawlers were usually equipped with low-power diesel engine, but since 2010 different boats with uprated gasoline engine also joined the ranks of illegal fishing. In just three years, the number of gasoline boats has increased from one to twelve.” Xie Lanyun the law-enforcement official says. He and his colleagues have accustomed to patrolling up and down the River at night to prevent some fishermen from illegal fishing. Due to high humidity working environment, almost every frontline law-enforcement official suffered from the rheumatism. The verbal abusing and threat against the law-enforcement are nothing new to these officials. Sometimes the conflict between both sides went to such extent that the wild fishermen resorted to use of force and held the officials by arms when their fishing gear were taken over by the law-enforcement staff.
But they never have been daunted by difficulties. For the past twelve years, they have never stopped publicizing the policy of fishing ban and the importance of ecological protection. They have left their footprints nearly all over the city to spread relevant knowledge, such as fishing port, fishing village, trawler, market, restaurant. Fortunately, their efforts were not in vain. Now their work is being supported by the general public in Yichang who will promptly report the illegal fishing activities to the fishery officials whenever and wherever…
The past twelve years have also witnessed the updating and upgrading of the monitoring facilities. With the handheld DV, it gets more convenient to collect evidence of illegal fishing on the spot. While the founding of the Counter Illegal Fishing Response Unit?-the only one in Hubei Province and one of very few in China-greatly help carry out the prevention and monitoring of illegal fishing in the Yangtze River and Qingjiang River.
To Keep the Chinese Sturgeon from Extinction
From the Gezhouba Water Control Project to the lower course of the Yiling Yangtze River Bridge is about a 50 kilometers long area where as early as 1996 was approved by the Provincial Government as the Yangtze River Chinese Sturgeon Nature Reserve.
And the managers of the major projects such as Yiwan Railway connecting Wanzhou and Yichang, and Sichuan-to-east Gas Transmission Pipeline actively modified their construction plans for the sake of safety of the Chinese sturgeon. For the same reason, the Miaozui Yangtze River Bridge that is under intense construction also adopt a new construction scheme which means cost two hundred million RMB more than the original budget in order to avoid influence to the Chinese sturgeon.
According to He Guangwen, the head of the Yangtze River Chinese Sturgeon Nature Reserve, the annual spring fishing ban is also a period to put the fish fry in the Yichang Section of the Yangtze River. Since 2002, totally five hundred thousand fish fry of class I and classⅡnational protected aquatic animals including Chinese sturgeon, Dabry’ s sturgeon, Chinese high fin banded shark, fifteen million fish fry of four famous Chinese carps, namely black carp, grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp, as well as three million fish fry of commercial fishes such as pelteobagrus fulvidraco, bream, Qingjiang Onychostomasimus and fatty fish have been released into Yichang Section.
“Ten years ago, it was very common to catch sight of fish like Chinese sturgeon and finless porpoise, but now the number of Chinese sturgeons that lay eggs at spawning site reduces rapidly from over two thousand to not more than several hundred.” adds Mr. He, “To keep the Chinese sturgeon from extinction, the researchers in Yichang never stopped studying the reproduction and cultivation of the Chinese sturgeon and up to now, they have set about breeding the third generation of Chinese sturgeon. Once entering the river, these fish fry of Chinese sturgeon will swim down to the estuary of the Yangtze River. But more than ten years later, invariably they will migrate back their birthplace- Yichang Section for breeding.
From the perspective of fishery resources protectors, fishing ban and putting fish fry in certain area of the Yangtze River to breed, are integrated part that can’t be separated. For thousands of years, although people are fully aware of the foolishness of “draining the pond to get all the fish”, we still have to pay a heavy price for the man-made damage of the ecological system. Let’s wish both the Yangtze River and fishery resources have a bright future.
(Reporter Zhao Wei, Correspondent Zhao Yongsheng)