Xueyan Rectifies Aquaculture to Protect the Ecological Environment of the Taihu Lake Basin

Wujin News (Zhang Yingjuan, reporter Zhou Jian) On January 19, Niu Longfu, who lives in the Shidong Village group of Yapu Village, Xueyan Town, was clearing his pond, cleaning up the 2-mu fish pond and then filling it in to plant peach trees. He did this to cooperate with the aquaculture rectification work in the 3-kilometer buffer zone along the shore of the Taihu Lake Basin, which Xueyan Town is currently carrying out.

In order to accelerate the green transformation and development of key areas and protect the ecological environment of the Taihu Lake Basin, in accordance with the requirements of the provincial "263" special action and the Ministry of Environmental Protection's "Opinions on the Supervision of Cyanobacteria Bloom Prevention and Control Work in Taihu Lake, Jiangsu Province," the Party Committee and government of Xueyan Town decided to carry out a special rectification of aquaculture within the 3-kilometer buffer zone along the shore of the Taihu Lake Basin.

This special rectification involves more than 60 aquaculture farmers in 4 villages: Yapu, Taige, Xiazhuang, and Xuedong. The farmers must rectify their operations in accordance with the "Discharge Standard for Pond Aquaculture Water in the Taihu Lake Basin," and the aquaculture tailwater must meet the discharge standards. Those that do not rectify their operations or fail to meet the relevant requirements after rectification will be converted to other production, withdrawn from aquaculture, or cleaned up and banned.

The special rectification is divided into 4 stages. The first stage is from January 3 to 20, the stage of individual application and registration verification; the second stage is from January 21 to February 10, the stage of signing reward agreements; the third stage is from March 5 to April 15, the stage of acceptance inspection and payment; the fourth stage starts from April 16, the stage of long-term management.

After the action was launched, Xueyan Town set up 3 action groups, visited aquaculture farmers in each village, explained the relevant policies to them, and did ideological work well. Up to now, 46 farmers have submitted applications for withdrawal from aquaculture, and 1 has submitted an application for rectification.