Generations of fishers say goodbye to a way of life as China tries to revive the Yangtze River
- A 10-year fishing moratorium in Asia’s longest river began in January and will be extended by next year
- It’s one of the most ambitious bans ever seen, but it will also leave more than 300,000 people without work
After spending his entire working life on the Yangtze River, Wang Quansheng handed in his fishing licence and nets to the local authorities at the start of this month. His boats were taken away by the government in March.
The moratorium applies across 332 conservation sites along the 6,300km (3,915-mile) waterway, and Beijing plans to extend it to the main river course, key tributaries and major lakes linked to the river by January 1 next year.
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It will be the most ambitious and extensive fishing ban ever seen, as Beijing tries to revive the ecosystem of one of the world’s most famous and important rivers.
“There is no comparable ban anywhere else in the world,” said David Dudgeon, chair professor of ecology and biodiversity at the University of Hong Kong. “If you ban fishing in the entire Yangtze, then there is no other fishing ban in freshwater environments that is that big,” he added.
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