China’s Yangtze River fishing ban brings biomass surge, boosts finless porpoise

The ecological health of China’s Yangtze River is undergoing a meaningful recovery, just halfway through a 10-year fishing ban to restore the ecosystem, a new study has found. As one of the country’s vital waterways – and among the world’s most biodiverse rivers – the Yangtze has long supported immense economic and social functions. At its peak, it contributed more than 60 per cent of China’s freshwater fisheries output. Yet from the 1950s, the river basin faced sustained ecological decline d...

By Zhang Tong