Will the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River keep the next "white sturgeon"

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China issued a notice stating that starting from January 1, 2020, 332 nature reserves and aquatic germplasm resource reserves in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River will completely prohibit productive fishing; the mainstream of the Yangtze River and important tributaries will be banned from January 2021 at the latest A tentative 10-year annual ban on arrests will be implemented from the 1st

Almost at the same time, the international academic journal "Integral Environmental Science" published online "What lessons did the extinction of the white sturgeon leave for the protection of the Yangtze River biological protection" (hereinafter referred to as "the extinction of the white sturgeon").

"You can't enter Zhuochi, and fish and turtles cannot be eaten

If we are exhausted, there will be no fish.

What is functional extinction?

Wei Qiwei, the corresponding author of the article "White Sturgeon Extinction", director of the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, and researcher Wei Qiwei said in an interview with the media that the conclusion of the "white sturgeon extinction" was calculated based on the model.

In September 2019, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) organized an expert group assessment in Shanghai.

Related experts from the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, led by Cao Wenxuan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have called for a ban on fishing in the Yangtze River for many years

But Liu Huanzhang also admitted that it is difficult to verify negative evidence

Although unwilling to accept it, "everyone respects IUCN's assessment model and experts

As for the cause of extinction, the paper mentioned that low reproduction rate may be the main cause of extinction

Yangtze River fishes urgently need to be protected

The author of the paper also called for the extinction of the Yangtze River White Sturgeon due to multiple reasons, which shows that there is an urgent need to protect the endangered Yangtze River fish

Such worries are not unreasonable.

According to the survey results of the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, from 1997 to 2017, the breeding population of Chinese sturgeon in the Yichang section of the lower Gezhouba River gradually decreased, and the scale of spawning gradually decreased.

On January 3, IUCN stated through its official Weibo that the final results of the comprehensive assessment of Asian and European sturgeon fish currently under way have not yet been released.

Fishing ban is imperative

"For a long time, the Yangtze River fisheries, which are overfished and baited for breeding, have caused continuous damage to the ecosystem, biodiversity and fish resources of the Yangtze River Basin," Liu Huanzhang explained.

In an interview with the China Science Daily, associate professor Wang Yamin of the School of Oceanography at Shandong University said that fishing bans are definitely beneficial to the recovery of fishery resources, but it is doubtful whether the restoration of the ecological environment of the Yangtze River will play a decisive role, because there are many factors that affect the ecological environment of the Yangtze River

In this regard, Liu Huanzhang said that the Yangtze River shipping, water conservancy projects, and environmental pollution are all factors that affect the biology and ecology of the Yangtze River.
“But governance needs to be done step by step, one by one
.
” There will definitely be a ban on fishing in the Yangtze for a long time.
Great results
.
This effect refers to the increase in the amount of fish resources and the increase in the overall population of the species
.
From the perspective of the overall ecosystem functions of the Yangtze River, the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River has a positive effect on the ecological protection and restoration of the water body, the maintenance of the entire Yangtze River's ecological diversity and the improvement of the social ecosystem environment
.

The reason why the Yangtze River is temporarily banned for ten years is that, in Cao Wenxuan's view, it is because many commercial fish in the Yangtze River are generally sexually mature in three to four years, and the Yangtze River fish can be reproduced for two to three generations within ten years
.
"A population growth of this scale will allow a significant increase and recovery of fish resources.
If the recovery is good by then, it can be used appropriately according to specific conditions
.
"

Scientific planning of the Yangtze River fishing ban

How to ban fishing in the Yangtze River? The controversy in the academic circles mainly focused on the use of lakes
.

For a long time, the large and small lakes in the Yangtze River Basin have been connected to the natural waters.
The water rises in summer and the water level drops in winter.
Fishes exchange in the Yangtze River and the lakes
.

But later for flood control and resource development and utilization, the lakes in the Yangtze River began to build gates to block them from the Yangtze River
.
"Tongjiang lakes have a high degree of fish diversity, and the ecosystem structure formed by long-term evolution is stable and compatible with the Yangtze River
.
" After the construction of the sluice gate, the fish diversity has decreased, and the ecosystem structure has become incomplete and functional.
Incompleteness has caused problems such as eutrophication of lakes in the Yangtze River Basin and decline in biodiversity
.

If the academic circles on the Yangtze River's mainstream and tributary fishing bans are more consistent, there are still disputes about whether the lakes in the Yangtze River basin can engage in fisheries and how to engage in fisheries
.

At present, some people believe that the lakes in the Yangtze River basin should also be completely banned from fishing, but Cao Wenxuan emphasized that the Yangtze River’s fishing ban cannot be "one size fits all.
" And water purification plays a positive role
.

From a scientific perspective, the best model for banning fishing on the Yangtze River is to permanently ban fishing in national nature reserves; key river basins and key water areas can be used in a certain mode and to a certain extent; in lakes, reservoirs, etc.
artificially In controllable waters, under a reasonable and scientific management method, a certain amount of fishery can exist
.

"According to water, location, and time conditions, the goal of ecological protection and restoration in the Yangtze River Basin will eventually be achieved
.
" Liu Huanzhang said
.

Related paper information: https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
scitotenv.
2019.
136242