A permanent fishing ban in all 279 aquatic¹ reserves along the Yangtze River has begun.

 

长江之中279种水生动物的永久禁渔令已经开始施行。

 

"Biodiversity in the Yangtze River has been shrinking. The Chinese paddlefish has not been seen in years and the Chinese sturgeon and finless² porpoise³ are on the brink⁴ of extinction," said Yu Kangzhen, Vice⁵ Minister of Agriculture, at a meeting in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, on Thursday.

 

The numbers of four species of carp have decreased by 97 percent from the levels in the 1950s, Yu said.

 

The annual catch from the river is less than 100,000 tonnes, contributing very little to the 69 million tonnes of fishery production nationwide, he said.

 

The Yangtze River does not have sufficient conditions for fishery production anymore, and it is more important to emphasize its ecological⁶ functions and protect aquatic biodiversity, he added.

 

"People are even fighting for food against the finless porpoise in some places, damaging the reserves," Yu said.

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