At 3 PM on April 2, The State Council Information Office held a regular briefing on the policy of The State Council. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian, Member of the Leading Party Group of the National Development and Reform Commission Guo Lanfeng, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Ma Youxiang and relevant officials of the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the State Administration for Market Regulation will brief you on the Opinions on Unswervingly Promoting the 10-year Fishing Ban on the Yangtze River and answer your questions.
Shou Xiaoli, Deputy Director and Spokesperson of the Information Bureau of The State Council Information Office:
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the regular policy briefing of The State Council. Recently, The General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Unswervedly Promoting the 10-year Fishing Ban in the Yangtze River”. To help you better understand the relevant situation, today we have invited Mr. Tang Renjian, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Mr. Guo Lanfeng, member of the Party Leadership Group of the National Development and Reform Commission; Mr. Ma Youxiang, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Mr. Tian Yonghao, Director of the Public Security Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security; Mr. Song Xin, head of the Employment Promotion Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and Mr. Nan Jun, head of the Law Enforcement Inspection Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation. They are invited to brief you on the Opinions and answer your concerns.
First of all, I would like to invite Mr. Tang Renjian to make an introduction.
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Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian:
Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the media, good afternoon. Thank you very much for your concern and support for the 10-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River. The 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River is an important decision made by the Party Central Committee and The State Council for the overall situation and for the future generations, and it is a landmark project for the protection of the Yangtze River. In this year’s government work report, Premier Li Qiang also made special arrangements for banning fishing in the Yangtze River. According to the arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and The State Council, starting from January 1, 2021, a 10-year fishing ban will be implemented in the main stream of the Yangtze River, large Tongjiang lakes, important tributaries and parts of the Yangtze River estuary, and the productive fishing of natural fishery resources will be banned all year round. According to the requirements of The State Council, since 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has led the establishment of a work coordination mechanism composed of 12 departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the General Administration of Market Supervision, and leading groups and special work classes have been set up all over the river. The overall idea of “ten years of internal training and stability”, the upper and lower linkage, coordination, continuous attack, has achieved important phased results.
First, we strengthened top-level design and continued to improve the policy system. In accordance with the circular of The General Office of the State Council on effectively implementing the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River Basin, more than 70 policies have been issued, including resettlement guarantees for retired fishermen, law enforcement supervision of the ban on fishing, resource protection and restoration, and evaluation of the effect of the ban on fishing. Local governments have formulated and improved supporting policies and local regulations in light of actual conditions, and built a policy system with effective measures and strong guarantees.
Second, we will take multiple measures at the same time to ensure that the resettlement of retired fishermen is effective. 231,000 fishermen who have retired from fishing have been documented one by one, given classified policies, followed up and provided assistance, and improved the level of employment and social security through multiple channels. All 154,000 fishermen who have retired from fishing and are able and willing to find employment have switched to other industries. All 221,000 retired fishermen eligible for the insurance have participated in the pension insurance, and nearly 51,000 people have received pensions. According to tracking research data, the average monthly income of retired fishermen in 2023 increased by 20% year-on-year, and retired fishermen are generally satisfied.
Third, strict law enforcement and supervision have effectively curbed illegal fishing. In the past three years, agricultural and rural departments and public security organs at all levels have investigated and handled more than 1,600 administrative cases and 500 criminal cases related to fishing every month, and market supervision departments have investigated and handled more than 300 cases every month, maintaining a high pressure against illegal fishing activities. With the implementation of the “Liangjiang Project”, video surveillance equipment has basically covered the main stream of the Yangtze River, the Yangtze River estuary, Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake and other key waters, and the number of licensed fishery law enforcement personnel along the river has reached 10,400, four times more than before the total ban on fishing, and initially formed a law enforcement system that combines civil air defense and technical defense, and attaches equal importance to special management groups. In 2023, the number of illegal fishing reported by the public dropped by 28% year-on-year, and the high frequency of illegal fishing has been effectively curtailed.
Fourth, coordinated protection and restoration, and the recovery of aquatic living resources improved. According to the evaluation results of the fishing ban effect and biological integrity index conducted by the Chinese Academy of Water Sciences, the aquatic biological integrity index of the Yangtze River main stream, Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake has been upgraded by two levels from the worst “no fish” before the fishing ban. In 2022, the population of the Yangtze finless porpoise, an iconic species, reached 1,249, an increase of 237 over the 2017 census, achieving a historic rebound. Yangtze River knife-fish migration to Dongting Lake, has reached the history of the farthest distribution of water.
The General Office of the State Council is requested to issue the Opinions on unswervingly Promoting the 10-year Fishing Ban in the Yangtze River. “Opinions” mainly from the best mechanism, strong security, strict law enforcement, solid ecology and other aspects of the 10-year fishing ban to re-deploy and re-emphasize. In terms of the optimal mechanism, it is required to establish and improve the working mechanism of vertical linkage and integration, the coordination mechanism of horizontal coordination and mutual cooperation, and the accountability mechanism of supervision and guidance and compacting responsibility. In terms of strong security, for more than 230,000 fishermen who have retired from fishing, we have enriched and improved the “toolbox” in terms of employment and elderly care, and pushed forward from “withdrawing” to “stable” and “getting rich”. In terms of strict law enforcement, we will focus on comprehensively improving the effectiveness of law enforcement and supervision, and make arrangements for law enforcement mechanisms, task layout, regulatory priorities, and capacity building. In terms of solid ecology, the work foundation of monitoring and evaluation has been continuously consolidated, and key measures such as protecting flagship species and strengthening habitat restoration of key aquatic organisms have been identified. In addition, it also put forward clear requirements for all localities to introduce support policies in accordance with local conditions and enhance policy synergies.
The promulgation of the “Opinions” will certainly provide a more powerful policy guarantee for the 10-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will implement the overall responsibility to take the lead, work together with the member units of the coordination mechanism and all areas along the river, focus on the ultimate goal of restoring aquatic biodiversity, continue to deepen the work of fishermen resettlement security, law enforcement and supervision of fishing ban, and aquatic life protection, practice internal skills, improve quality and efficiency, and ensure that the 10-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River is stable and lasting, and achieve the expected results. thank you.
Shou Xiaoli:
Now I would like to invite Mr. Guo Lanfeng to introduce us.
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Guo Lanfeng, Party Member of the National Development and Reform Commission:
Ladies and Gentlemen, friends from the media, good afternoon! It gives me great pleasure to attend today’s regular policy briefing of The State Council. The 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River is a strategic measure to promote the Yangtze River conservation, which will benefit the present and future generations. Entrusted by Director Zha Jie of our Committee, on behalf of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Coordinated Regional Development and the National Development and Reform Commission, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to friends from all walks of life who have cared for and supported the Yangtze River conservation and the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River, and to friends from the media.
As you all know, the original mission of the development of the Yangtze Economic Belt was to promote conservation rather than large-scale development. Over the years, we have taken a series of measures to protect and restore the Yangtze River. Remarkable changes have taken place in the ecological environment of the Yangtze River.
Specific tasks and measures to unswervingly promote the 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River have been clarified, and a checklist closed-loop management mechanism has been established to regularly track the progress of scheduling work and promote the implementation of policies and measures such as the 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River.
While seeing the effect of the ban on fishing, we must clearly realize that the effect is not stable, the work is still in the stage of climbing the slope, and it is far from the time to celebrate the victory, once relaxed at this time, the previous achievements will be wasted, not to mention that many rare aquatic organisms have not entered the state of a virtuous cycle, and there is a lot of work to be carried out. We are holding this press conference to unify our thinking and understanding, that is, the 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River must be unswervingly carried out without the slightest wavering, and some measures must be continuously improved in the course of our work.
In the next step, we will earnestly implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and The State Council, always maintain historical patience and strategic determination, coordinate and urge relevant departments and provinces and cities along the Yangtze River, unswervingly promote the 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River, unswervingly and consistently implement all work, and better restore the aquatic biodiversity of the Yangtze River and the vitality of the Mother River. It will provide support for the high-quality development of the Yangtze Economic Belt. thank you.
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Shou Xiaoli:
Let’s start with questions. Please inform your news organization before you ask.
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China Media Group:
The Yangtze River fishing ban has entered the fourth year, may I ask the State Office at this time to issue the “Opinions”, once again fully deploy the fishing ban, what are the main considerations? How to implement it? thank you.
Tang Renjian:
I’ll answer that. Thank you for your question. With the joint efforts of all relevant departments, after more than three years of concentrated efforts and continuous progress, the 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River has achieved important phased results. However, the prohibition of fishing in the Yangtze River is a long-term, complex and arduous historical task, and the current Yangtze River can only be said to be “recovering from a serious disease”. There are still many problems and challenges to continue to consolidate the achievements of the prohibition of fishing and accelerate the restoration of the basin ecology.
For example, with the continuous recovery of fish resources in the Yangtze River and the continuous increase of law enforcement efforts to ban fishing, the time, place, means of illegal fishing and the black industry chain of underground circulation of illegal fish have become increasingly hidden, which has greatly increased the difficulty of cracking down on and investigating. Moreover, the employment and social security of retired fishermen have basically achieved the “help should be done, should be guaranteed”, but the level of security is still relatively low on the whole, and the stability of the income of some retired fishermen with flexible employment and self-employment is still relatively poor. There are also a few places to varying degrees of rest and relaxation of the state of mind, because the arrest has been more than three years, the prohibition of arrest and arrest work mechanism has been weakened. At this critical time of continuous climbing, The General Office of the State Council issued a policy document to promote the 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, and re-emphasized and re-deployed the work in the next seven years, which can be said to send a clear signal of unswervingly promoting the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River.
We will further strengthen our understanding, face up to difficulties and challenges, maintain firm resolve, be careful in the beginning, and continue to vigorously promote the implementation of all measures to ban fishing in the Yangtze River. Next, focus on the “3 consolidation and promotion” to continue to exert force.
First, we will consolidate and improve the level of resettlement guarantees for fishermen who have retired from fishing. This is first and foremost because it concerns people. This is also related to the mass base of the 10-year fishing ban, which is a livelihood issue of great concern to the society. We will guide local governments to implement policies to support employers, guide enterprises to employ more retired fishermen, and help retired fishermen improve their professional skills and improve their job stability and income through order-type training and labor training. We will fully implement all old-age insurance policies and prevent problems such as suspension of payment or suspension of payment.
Second, we will consolidate and improve the effectiveness of law enforcement and supervision of the fishing ban. In view of the constantly renewed illegal activities such as night crimes, “guerrilla warfare” in the border waters, and diving electric fishing, we should keep an eye on key time nodes and key waters along the inter-provincial border, such as the water surface of thousands of square kilometers at the mouth of the Yangtze River, which is very vast and very complicated. Last year, I did a research there and looked at the monitoring system. Well, it really is a hook and a thread. At that time, we saw clearly on the video that this is legal, and after watching it, I felt more secure. We will carry out regular joint law enforcement operations to form a strong deterrent of water attacks, shore investigations and source blocking, and resolutely prevent the resurgence of illegal fishing. At the same time, it continues to increase the crackdown on “three no” ships, “electric poison bombing”, illegal fishing and other illegal activities, strengthen the construction of law enforcement equipment and capacity conditions, rely on automated and intelligent monitoring means, strengthen the monitoring and supervision of key waters all weather, timely detection, and rapid disposal.
The third is to consolidate and improve the Yangtze River’s aquatic biodiversity. This is the ultimate goal of the Yangtze River fishing ban. It is necessary to continuously optimize and improve the monitoring and investigation network of aquatic life in the Yangtze River, scientifically evaluate the effect and integrity index of fishing ban, and focus on rare and endangered species such as Chinese sturgeon, Yangtze finless porpoise and Yangtze sturgeon, strengthen artificial conservation, scientific breeding and release, and focus on key areas such as spawning grounds, feeding grounds, winter grounds and migration channels of key species. We will implement a number of major projects to protect and restore ecosystems to ensure the survival and reproduction of fish. thank you.
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New Yellow River client reporter:
We have noted that the Ministry of Public Security has launched the “Safe Yangtze River 2024” special campaign. What are the public security departments’ considerations and plans for maintaining the ecological security of the Yangtze River in light of illegal fishing and illegal sales of fish? thank you.
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Tian Yonghao, head of the Public Security Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security:
Let me answer that question and thank the reporter for asking. The Ministry of Public Security attaches great importance to the Yangtze River fishing ban, and has successively deployed the “Yangtze River fishing ban” and “Safe Yangtze River” special operations, and has detected more than 20,000 criminal cases related to fishing. At present, under the strong deterrent of the criminal crackdown by the public security organs, the trend of large-scale illegal fishing crimes in the Yangtze River basin has been effectively curtained, especially the criminal cases of illegal fishing in the Yangtze River main line waters have dropped by more than 30%, and the proportion of organized and syndicated cases is less than 10%. According to the information obtained, the current illegal fishing crime in the Yangtze River presents four obvious trends, namely, the shift from gang crime to individual random crime, the shift from main stream crime to tributaries and remote waters crime, the shift from surface crime to underwater diving crime, and the shift from traditional electric poison bombing crime to the use of new prohibited fishing gear crime, which brings new challenges to law enforcement.
We will unswervingly crack down on illegal fishing in the Yangtze River. During the 10-year fishing ban period in the Yangtze River, we will organize and carry out a special “Safe Yangtze River” operation focusing on illegal fishing in the Yangtze River every year, and comprehensively use measures such as listing supervision, upgrading investigation, and deploying police in different places to strengthen the investigation of cases, and always maintain a high-pressure crackdown on illegal fishing crimes in the Yangtze River. At the same time, maintain the high-level operation of the Jiangda Protection and reporting Center of the Minister of Public Security, and accept reports of fishing crime clues 24 hours a day. We will unswervingly maintain strict prevention, organize the police force and relevant administrative law enforcement departments to carry out frequent joint inspections and law enforcement in key waters, especially cross-regional waters and waters with high incidence of cases, and strengthen unannounced inspections. Meanwhile,
Ma Youxiang, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs:
Thank you for your question. Since the total ban on fishing, fish resources and biodiversity in the Yangtze River have shown a trend of recovery, and the effect of the ban has initially shown. Just now, Minister Tang specifically talked about the effect of the ban on fishing. But we also need to be aware that the diversity level of aquatic life is still relatively low, which is the first low. The integrity index of aquatic life in the key waters of the Yangtze River Basin is still in the “poor” level, which is divided into six grades, and “poor” belongs to the fourth level from good to bad. The Chinese sturgeon remains critically endangered, the Yangtze River dolphin is functionally extinct and the shad has not been seen for more than 20 years. Despite the fact that 15 new species have been detected in the three years since the fishing ban, there are still 120 species that have not been detected out of 443 species that were once distributed throughout history.
Second, the level of fishery resources is still relatively low. After the ban on fishing, the amount of egg and seedling resources of “four big fish” is 4.5 times that of before the ban on fishing, which is from the effect of these three years. But it is only 30.5% of its historical best, which means it has recovered only 30.5%. The total fish resources have increased by 25.6% compared with that before the ban on fishing, which is positive, but it only accounts for 36.8% of the highest resources in history, which is a good achievement, but still far from the best. For example, the resources of Taihu Lake and Liangzi Lake have reached 63% and 36% of the normal resource carrying capacity, indicating that the level is still relatively low.
The Yangtze River Basin is a super-large ecosystem connected by “rivers, lakes and seas”. After the adoption of fishing ban measures, some low-nutrient fish resources with short fertility cycle and fast reproduction will recover first, providing food for higher-nutrient fish and birds through the food chain, which is what we often say, “big fish eat small fish and small fish eat shrimp.” Since then, the self-regulation of the ecosystem has been continuously optimized to achieve a new balance. The sexual maturity age of major economic fish in the Yangtze River is generally 3-5 years, and 10 years of fishing ban can have two to three generations of rest and rest, thus basically forming a good cycle of continuous recovery of aquatic life and healthy operation of the ecosystem in the Yangtze River.
From the perspective of relevant practice, the recovery of fish stocks is also a long-term process. According to the research of experts on the evolution law of fish resources and diversity in waters without fishing pressure at home and abroad, China has banned fishing for 23 years, but the recovery of fish resources is still relatively slow, and fishing is still completely banned. From a foreign point of view, the European Rhine salmon in 1950 almost the entire basin disappeared, after decades of continuous protection, although the resources have increased, but compared with the historical peak there is still a big gap. Let me just give you two examples.
Therefore, after the expiration of the 10-year fishing ban period in the Yangtze River, it is still necessary to take protective measures that adapt to the status of aquatic living resources and protection needs on the basis of scientific proof. Some fish are attracted by special hydrological conditions, or migratory, baiting, breeding and other habits, gathering at certain times and in specific waters, giving us the feeling that the visual looks like more fish, which is a normal phenomenon. It turns out that there was a similar situation before the ban on fishing, and it is not the current ban on fishing that has arisen this special situation, it is a normal situation.
Therefore, The General Office of the State Council has specially issued the Opinions on Unswervingly Promoting the 10-year Fishing Ban in the Yangtze River, which is also based on the resource situation, scientific laws and practical experience in the Yangtze River basin, and has strengthened some work on the original basis. In the next step, we must unswervingly promote implementation, formulate long-term targeted protection plans, and take multiple measures to restore aquatic living resources and diversity through river-lake connectivity, ecological management, critical habitat restoration, and scientific release. thank you.
Tang Renjian:
So this matter is not over, within ten years, don’t find any reasons to want to “open”.
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Changjiang Daily:
We often see signs in restaurants and wet markets saying “No wild fish from the Yangtze River”. May I ask the market supervision department, in order to carry out the 10-year fishing ban, what measures have been taken to promote the 10-year fishing ban? thank you.
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Nan Jun, Head of the Law Enforcement Inspection Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation:
Thank you for your question. In accordance with the unified deployment of The State Council, the General Administration of Market Regulation organized a three-year “Yangtze River fishing ban to break the chain” special action in July 2020, focusing on cracking down on the sale of illegal catch in the Yangtze River basin. As Minister Tang mentioned when he introduced the overall work, the market supervision department handles an average of more than 300 cases per month. We have also made statistics on the overall situation of the special actions, and by the end of 2023, Market supervision departments across the country investigated and handled 12,000 related illegal cases, inspected 27.06 million business entities, monitored e-commerce platforms (websites) 10 million times, conducted action guidance 119,700 times, urged the removal of 36,800 pieces of illegal trading information, and basically eliminated the phenomenon of public publicity and sale of illegal catches from the Yangtze River in the market. Illegal sales channels have been basically blocked, and the market environment has been effectively purified.
Since the launch of the special action, we have adhered to the simultaneous promotion and mutual promotion, taking publicity work as an important starting point, and mainly carried out the following aspects of work:
The first is to issue the “eight strictly prohibited” action notice. The relevant business entities are required to operate legally and in compliance with the law, so that they do not buy, do not sell, do not publish illegal advertisements, and do not provide trading services.
Second, we will create a favorable social atmosphere in all respects. The official website of the General Administration opened a column and published more than 300 articles involving special actions. We have produced special publicity videos, held special action achievements exhibitions, and continued to display popular science projects as the national primary and secondary school popular science education base. Local market supervision departments based on local reality, to carry out a variety of publicity activities. For example, Sichuan province launched its first challenge on Tiktok with the theme of “No fishing in the Yangtze River”, which was viewed more than 370 million times.
The third is to organize public commitments and initiatives to strengthen industry self-discipline. Local market supervision departments guide industry associations to organize aquatic product market operators and catering operators to carry out public commitment activities and sign public commitment letters; Joint consumer protection organizations and other units issued public proposals to guide key industries to consciously resist the flow of “wild Yangtze River fish” and “wild river fresh” into the market.
Fourth, law enforcement and law popularization should be promoted simultaneously to enhance operators’ awareness of law-abiding usage. Local market supervision departments, in combination with daily supervision, special inspection, market inspection, and case investigation, carried out targeted interpretation of the law and reasoning, actively publicized policies and regulations, guided various business entities to abide by the law and operate with integrity, and amplified the effect of special actions.
In the next step, the market supervision department will earnestly implement the overall deployment of The State Council’s “Opinions on Unswervingly Promoting the 10-year Ban on fishing in the Yangtze River”, constantly consolidate and improve the effect of special actions on supervision and law enforcement, and make greater contributions to the comprehensive restoration of the ecological environment in the Yangtze River basin. thank you.
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China Agriculture and Rural Press reporter:
It is understood that illegal fishing has long existed in some places, may I ask what effective measures are in strengthening fishing supervision? thank you.
Ma Youxiang:
Thank you for your question. Fishing is a common way of leisure and entertainment for the public. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 30 million fishing enthusiasts in the Yangtze River basin, a very large amount. In fact, many fishing enthusiasts find and report illegal behaviors such as electric fish and anchor fish in the process of fishing, which is an important force to maintain the ban on fishing order. However, there are also a small number of anglers using illegal fishing tackle fishing law, buying and selling caught fish and other behaviors, destroying aquatic living resources, impacting the management order of the ban on fishing. At present, the illegal fishing cases we have investigated and handled account for about two-thirds of the fishing cases, which is still a relatively large amount. For regulating fishing behavior in prohibited waters, the “Opinions” put forward three specific measures:
First, adhere to the combination of dredging and improving the management system. All localities are required to explore and carry out local legislation on fishing management according to local conditions. At present, many places have done local legislative work, some provinces and cities, as well as more than 700 counties, many places involved have formulated laws and regulations, demarcating permitted fishing areas and prohibited fishing areas, clarifying the fishing tackle fishing methods that can be used, the types of fish that can be caught, the number of fish and the minimum fishing standards to meet the needs of recreational fishing.
Second, we will innovate the way we supervise and improve governance. Research and establishment of fishing record system and management platform, and further strengthen the crackdown on illegal fishing. Better guide the legalization and standardization of recreational fishing.
The third is to jointly manage and promote social co-governance. Strengthen publicity and guidance, set up a hotline for reporting awards, actively give play to the autonomous management role of fishing industry associations, and guide fishing enthusiasts to scientific, safe and standardized fishing. thank you.
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Economic Daily:
You are all very interested in the Yangtze River conservation, and I would like to ask how the overall progress of the Yangtze River conservation work is and what progress and achievements have been made? thank you.
Guo Lanfeng:
Thank you for your question, which gives me an opportunity to introduce the Yangtze River conservation. The Yangtze River is the Mother River and the other mother river is the Yellow River, as we all know very well. The great protection of the Yangtze River is the most distinctive background of the development strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. In the more than eight years since the implementation of the strategy, under the guidance of the Central Leading Group for Coordinated Regional Development, the Central Regional Office, together with relevant departments, has adhered to two principles: one is to adhere to a common focus on large-scale protection and not to engage in large-scale development, and the other is to adhere to ecological priority and green development. From the Angle of pollution control, from the supply and demand of both sides, from the front and the end to protect the Yangtze River. Major changes have taken place in the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt through efforts at both ends, and major achievements have been made in ecological protection and restoration of the Yangtze River. Specifically, we have done four things:
First, the policy framework has been basically established. It includes “one law, two plans”, “one law” is the Yangtze River Protection Law, which is our country’s first law on river basins, and later the Yellow River Protection Law. There are two plans: one is the Outline of the Plan for the Development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which is the overall plan, and the other is the territorial space plan of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which makes plans for what can and cannot be done in the Yangtze River basin. At the same time, we have the main points of work every year and the implementation plan every five years. More importantly, there are laws to protect the Yangtze River.
Second, the effect of pollution control has gradually become apparent. The Yangtze River is sick, the root of the disease is on the shore, not in the water, the shore is mainly five aspects, the first is chemical enterprises, the second is urban sewage waste, the third is the ship, the fourth is the agricultural non-point source, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture did not absorb, did not use the flow into the water, the last is the tailings pond. In recent years, we have strengthened these five aspects and solved a large number of outstanding problems, so that the main stream of the Yangtze River has been maintained at the level of Class II water quality for four consecutive years, which is very difficult.
Third, ecological protection and restoration systems will be advanced. We have just introduced the 10-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, which is a very important move. For example, we have taken measures to control the Yangtze River’s shoreline, illegal docks and illegal sand mining, carried out clean-up work of small hydropower plants, and carried out afforestation and afforestation projects along the Yangtze River and the protection of wetlands in rivers and lakes. The Yangtze River basin recreates the beautiful scenery of “clear water, green banks, leaping fish and flying birds”. Just said more fish, that is the most important sign of ecological protection. One is that there are fewer people fishing, fewer people eating, the relationship between supply and demand. Second, the water ecology is better, if the water ecology is not good, the fish will die, which shows that our ecological management has been effective, we use the words “state control section”, we may not understand, but the fish is a good proof.
Fourth, major changes have taken place in the mode of development. More than 9,000 chemical enterprises have been transferred to provinces and cities along the Yangtze River, and the phenomenon of “chemical industry encircling the river” has been basically solved. We have set up green parks and factories in steel, building materials and other industries that consume a lot of energy and cause a lot of pollution to drive the green development of regions and industries. At the same time, 30 national strategic emerging industrial clusters have been cultivated, and their development potential and durability have continued to increase.
On the whole, the Yangtze River protection has made remarkable achievements, more importantly, it has become the consensus of the whole society to jointly grasp the big protection and not engage in big development, the concept of clear water and green mountains is gold mountain and silver mountain has been deeply popular, and the provinces and cities along the river have been increasing their consciousness of protection and development in protection.
At present, the ecological and environmental protection and high-quality development of the Yangtze River are in a critical period of qualitative change from quantitative change. We will unswervingly adhere to the principle of large-scale protection, not large-scale development, and make greater efforts in high-level protection and high-quality development, so as to push all work to a new level. thank you.
Tang Renjian:
The ten-year ban on fishing is launched under the background of the development strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the ban on fishing is the meaning of the great protection of the Yangtze River.
Shou Xiaoli:
Timing. One last question.
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Cover reporter:
We have noticed that the number of finless porpoises in the Yangtze River has rebounded. Can you give us more details? What steps will be taken to strengthen the protection of rare species in the Yangtze River, such as the Yangtze finless porpoise? thank you.
Tang Renjian:
The reporter’s attention to the Yangtze River finless porpoise is right, because the Yangtze River basin is one of the richest areas of aquatic biodiversity in the world, with more than 400 species of fish distributed, of which 96 are under national key protection, and the flagship and iconic species here include the Yangtze River finless porpoise, as well as the Chinese sturgeon, Yangtze River sturgeon and other species. Just now I mentioned the Yangtze River finless porpoise, in the 1990s, the monitoring data was more than 2,700, but since then the number has been declining, a census in 2017, there are 1,012. Since the ban on fishing was implemented in 2021, fish stocks have begun to recover, and the porpoise has more food to eat and its numbers have begun to increase. In 2022, we did the latest census again and monitored 1,249 heads, which is the first time since the census began in 2006 to achieve a historic rebound. Now many places in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River can often see finless porpoises, hunting and playing in groups, and netizens say that the “smiling angel” of the Yangtze River has returned.
But at the same time, we are also sobering to see that there are still many human activities such as damming the Yangtze River, waterway improvement, sand and quarrying, and the living environment of rare and endangered species has not been fundamentally improved. In addition, these endangered species have a long growth cycle and difficulty in reproduction, and the protection situation is still not optimistic. For example, the Chinese sturgeon has not been found to reproduce naturally for seven consecutive years, and the Yangtze sturgeon has stopped breeding naturally since 2000. In the next step, we will take targeted measures to continuously strengthen the protection of rare and endangered species in the Yangtze River. There are three measures:
First, we will strengthen research on artificial species conservation. At present, we have built a number of Chinese sturgeon, Yangtze River sturgeon artificial breeding farms, there is a certain scale of the parent bank, which is a breakthrough, breaking through the scale of artificial breeding technical problems. Last year, the wild breeding experiment of Yangtze River sturgeon under artificial conditions achieved the first success. In the next step, we should continue to strengthen scientific research, continue to improve the artificial breeding capacity of seed conservation farms, strive to break through key technologies such as natural reproduction and habitat restoration as soon as possible, expand the scale of species conservation, improve population quality, and better support species conservation and wild population recovery.
Second, we need to increase production and release more products. At present, it is difficult for these rare and endangered species to recover only by natural reproduction, and they must be supplemented by breeding and release in the wild. Starting from this year, the ministry plans to arrange 50 million yuan of special funds every year, and strive to be able to release 1 million tail, the body length can be about 20 centimeters, because it is difficult to survive if it is small. When I went to Shanghai for research last year, they told me to strive to release one million tail a year, and I said that this amount is enough. afterwards