Fishing ban enforcement and management comprehensively strengthened to boost aquatic ecological civilization
The reporter learned from the Ministry of Agriculture that starting from 12:00 on April 1, the waters of the Yangtze River basin below Gezhouba Dam to the Yangtze River estuary, and the main streams, important tributaries and lakes connected to the Pearl River in the six provinces (regions) of Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan, have entered the fishing ban period. Together with the upper Yangtze River section above Gezhouba Dam, where the fishing ban began on February 1, the two river basins have now fully implemented the fishing ban.
Implementing the fishing ban period system is an important part of the national ecological civilization construction and an important institutional safeguard for protecting aquatic resource environments. This year is the 14th year of implementing the fishing ban period system in the Yangtze River basin and the 5th year of implementing the fishing ban period system in the Pearl River basin.
To ensure the smooth implementation of the 2015 Yangtze and Pearl River fishing ban period system and to consolidate and improve the ecological conservation results of the river basin waters, the Ministry of Agriculture will organize the “three major actions” during the fishing ban period.
First, synchronized enforcement action for the fishing ban on both rivers. On April 1, the Yangtze River Basin Fishery Administration and Supervision Office of the Ministry of Agriculture organized 12 provinces (regions, municipalities), including Jiangxi, Guangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai, to carry out synchronized enforcement action. All localities were required to strengthen enforcement management during the fishing ban period, create a good atmosphere for the fishing ban work, and organize fishery administration vessels and enforcement forces to carry out enforcement inspections in relevant key waters, and to clean up and ban prohibited fishing gear and illegal fishing.
Second, joint enforcement action to clean up and rectify illegal fishing in the Shanghai section of the Yangtze River waters. From April 9 to June 30, the Ministry of Agriculture, together with the Shanghai Municipal Government, will organize fishery enforcement forces from Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other provinces and municipalities, and join with coast guard, maritime and public security departments, to carry out a concentrated joint enforcement action to clean up and rectify illegal fishing in the Shanghai section of the Yangtze River waters, and comprehensively clean up and ban prohibited fishing gear and “three-no” vessels engaged in illegal fishing in the Shanghai section of the Yangtze River waters.
Third, carry out large-scale aquatic biological resource enhancement and release activities. During the fishing ban period on the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers, the Ministry of Agriculture will organize all localities to carry out large-scale aquatic biological enhancement and release activities, combined with strict enforcement management during the fishing ban period, to ensure better results in enhancement, release and ecological conservation, accelerate the restoration of aquatic biological resources, repair the aquatic ecological environment, and safeguard aquatic ecological security.
In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture will also combine routine enforcement and management work such as environmental impact assessment of water-related projects and ecological compensation enforcement inspections, compensation for damage to the ecological environment of fishery waters and accountability investigation, and supervision of protected area construction and management, and take multiple measures and multiple approaches to comprehensively strengthen the construction of aquatic ecological civilization.