Will a new law bring China’s dying Yangtze River back to life?

Name: China imposes a 10-year fishing ban for Yangtze River to protect marine biodiversity
Uploaded: 2021-03-02T01:00:15.000Z
Duration: 1 min 57 s
Description: China imposes a 10-year fishing ban for Yangtze River to protect marine biodiversity

National legislation designed to protect the massive waterway and its tributaries has come into effect, aiming to reverse decades of exploitation

But activists say much will depend on what happens at the local government level

Reading Time:4 minutes

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Decades of development has changed life in and along the Yangtze River. Photo: AFP

Echo Xie

Published: 9:00am, 2 Mar 2021Updated: 9:00am, 2 Mar 2021

Zhou Jianjun drove 400km (250 miles) in mid-February from his hometown of Xiangyang in central China to an industrial chemical park to investigate pollution along the Yangtze River.

As he neared the park, the smell of pesticides clogged the air. He got out and walked to the river to take some samples where the water was so polluted that it had turned yellow.

But this is not an unusual sight for Zhou.

For the past seven years, Zhou, 54, has spent all of his time and resources to report illegal sand mining, pollution and illegal fishing along the ailing waterway.

At times, the reports have been daily, something that Zhou hopes will change as the Yangtze River Protection Law comes into effect.

“The era of economic development at the expense of the environment is over,” he said.

01:57

China imposes a 10-year fishing ban for Yangtze River to protect marine biodiversity

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