SITUATIONS AND CONSERVATION STRATEGIES OF FISH RESOURCES IN THE YANGTZE RIVER BASIN

The Yangtze River basin harbors a high degree of fish diversity, with 378 fish species distributing in the mainstream and its attached waters, and 149 of these species are endemic to this river. Meanwhile, the Yangtze River is an important fishery ground in China, contributing more than 60% of the total catch of freshwater fishery. Therefore, the Yangtze River plays important roles in both biodiversity conservation and capture fisheries. However, due to the increasing human activities in the past decades, fish resources in the Yangtze River have declined sharply. Firstly, more and more species have been assessed as threatened and the endangerment categories of many species have been upgraded. Secondly, the population size of many iconic species, such as Acipenser sinensis, the four famous Chinese carps and Coreius guichenoti, have declined continuously. Thirdly, the miniaturization tendencies of major fishing targets have become more and more obvious. Last but not the least, the total fishery catch reduced significantly. Overfishing, water projects construction, enclosing-lake cultivation, water pollution and alien invasion were the main reasons contributing to these changes. In most situations, these factors interacted together, which imposed more damage to the fish resources and increased the difficulty of conservation. In order to protect the fish resources in the Yangtze River effectively, following conservation strategies are suggested: establishing specialized nature reserve, banning commercial fishing completely, implementing river ecological restoration, strengthening scientific research and establishing comprehensive regulation mechanism.