China will impose a fishing ban in the Pearl River valley as part of the country's effort to keep a sustainable development and protect the ecological environment of the river.

 

The Pearl River Basin Fishing Industry Resource Committee discussed and settled the fishing ban scheme at its fifth working meeting recently held in Nanchang. The fishing ban will go into effect starting from 2007. According to the scheme, fishing will be forbidden in the Pearl River Delta region between April and May every year, and the ban will cover the mainstream of the Pearl River, its branches and all lakes connected to its branches.

 

The Pearl River is the largest river in south China running through six provinces and autonomous regions, namely Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan and Jiangxi. Its run-off volume is the second largest in China. A survey carried out during the 1980s showed that more than 380 kinds of fish lived in the Pearl River, accounting for nearly half of the total fresh-water fishes in China. However, due to water degradation, environmental deterioration, and excessive fishing, fish resources in the Pearl River have continued to drop in recent years, coupled with drastic decrease in the fishermen's income. This has already affected the healthy development of the fishing industry in the region and the ecological security of the river.

 

(Chinanews.cn May 11, 2006)