River fishing ban seen to reverse biodiversity decline

In response to biodiversity collapse in the Yangtze river, China dramatically implemented a 10-year, full commercial fishing ban across the entire river basin

Since the 1950s, Yangtze fishery yields collapsed to a quarter of their historical peak, more than 130 fish species vanished from  surveys, and emblematic species such as the Yangtze River dolphin were driven to extinction. Picture:  AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Can banning fishing reverse biodiversity collapse in a mega-river? A new study published in Science suggests that, at least in the short term, the answer is yes. Drawing on six years of monitoring across 57 river reaches, Fangyuan Xiong and colleagues show that China’s unprecedented basin-wide fishing ban has halted seven decades of biodiversity decline in the Yangtze River. Crucially, the paper also highlights the scale of human transformation required to make such conservation work.

A river pushed to breaking point