The threats faced by fish in the Yangtze River are comprehensive. In addition to overfishing, damming, shipping, coastal development, environmental pollution, and sand filling will have a significant impact on the migration and reproduction of fish. Therefore, in addition to the protection of fish in the Yangtze River and the prohibition of fishing, comprehensive management is more necessary to curb the excessive development of the Yangtze River and implement systematic protection from fish habitats to migration routes.
Around the New Year's Day in 2020, two news related to fishing and fish attracted attention. One is the announcement on the scope and time of fishing ban in key waters of the Yangtze River Basin issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on the official website a few days before the arrival of the New Year, announcing a 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze River. Another is that a research paper published online by the international academic journal Overall Environmental Science recently revealed a bad news: scientists confirmed that the Yangtze River paddlefish, the "largest freshwater fish in China", has become extinct.
Yangtze River paddlefish, a species that has lived on the earth for 150 million years, has witnessed the vicissitudes of the earth for hundreds of millions of years, has avoided countless life and death disasters, but has been extinct in the era of highly developed civilization. It is sad and lamentable.
The Yangtze River paddlefish is not the first species to become extinct in the Yangtze River. The baiji dolphin, also an important species in the Yangtze River, has also been declared extinct. The last baiji, Qiqi, died alone in the pool of Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology and was made into a specimen after death. Some large fish, such as finless porpoise and Chinese sturgeon, are in danger and may disappear from the earth at any time, although they are not extinct.
The Yangtze River is considered as the mother river of the Chinese nation, but in fact, the Yangtze River not only nurtures our nation, but also nurtures and protects countless lives, which is an amazing ecological treasure. However, today's Yangtze River, under the uncontrolled development and utilization, the living environment of aquatic organisms has become increasingly severe. Relevant experts have said that the Yangtze River has reached the level of "no fish", which is the worst level, based on the current universal IBI (Biological Integrity Index). "The river without dolphins and the river without fish" is no longer alarmist.
In many people's view, the extinction of this species is inevitable, is the inevitable cost of human development, and is also the inevitable result of natural evolution. However, this is not the case. Take the baiji dolphin as an example. In the 1950s, it was still common to see baiji dolphins swarming in the Yangtze River. Even in the 1980s, there were more than 400 baiji dolphins, and then they quickly became extinct. The baiji dolphin disappeared in the Yangtze River. However, Amazon fugu and Hengfugu, which belong to the same family as the baiji, still exist today.
Obviously, the cost of the death of the white sturgeon and baiji dolphin is not inevitable, as long as people can get along more harmoniously with nature and master the rhythm of river development, the extinction rate of many species will at least slow down.
After the extinction of baiji dolphin and paddlefish, the Yangtze River's 10-year fishing ban plan was finally launched. The ban on fishing has made immediate impact on the protection of fish in the Yangtze River. For a long time, the "cool fishing and excessive fishing" of fish in the Yangtze River has reached a shocking level. High intensity fishing has made many fish populations survive, not to mention electric fishing, fish blasting, roll hook, enchanting array and other illegal fishing ghosts. Compared with the previous three-month fishing moratorium, a 10-year comprehensive fishing moratorium will provide enough time for species reproduction.
The threats faced by fish in the Yangtze River are comprehensive. In addition to overfishing, damming, shipping, coastal development, environmental pollution, and sand filling will have a significant impact on the migration and reproduction of fish. For example, shipping poses the greatest threat to large fish such as finless porpoise. In recent decades, the cases of finless porpoise being hanged and injured by propeller can be described as endless. Therefore, in addition to the protection of fish in the Yangtze River and the prohibition of fishing, comprehensive management is more necessary to curb the excessive development of the Yangtze River and implement systematic protection from fish habitats to migration routes.
The ecosystem is actually a whole, and the fate of human beings is closely related to the survival of all things. If we do not take action today, it will be too late to repent tomorrow.
