4. The Yangtze River is the longest river in China. For thousands of years, a lot of people have made their living along the river. Many of them are fishermen.
However, since January 1, 2020, China has begun a 10-year ban (禁令) on fishing in conservation areas (保护区) along the Yangtze River. And from January 1, 2021, fishing is not allowed in all natural waterways of large lakes connected to the Yangtze such as the Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake for 10 years.
The Yangtze River used to have high biodiversity (生物多样性). However, human activities such as overfishing and pollution have made fish fewer and fewer in the river. In recent years, the number of fish caught every year from the Yangtze has fallen greatly from more than 420,000 tons in the 1950s to less than 10, 0000 tons. Fish from the river used to take up 60% of the county's total fish production. But now the number is less than 0. 2%. So the fishing ban is a key move to protect the river's biodiversity.
The fishing ban will a (影响) about 280,00 fishermen along the river. The government has taken action to help those fishermen. For example, it provides them with money and job training so that they can find new ways of living.
Yang Zhiming, a fisherman in Hunan Province, now manages business at a local market. Yang bought a place at the market with 20, 00 yuan from the local government years ago. "Now, the 10-year fishing ban has started. My family don't have to worry to much because we can do some business at the market," he said. "The Dongting Lake is home to us fishermen. We stop fishing to protect our home."