(Ten-Year Trip to the Yangtze River) After the fishing nets were put away: The turnaround of the fishermen in the “First City on the Yangtze River”

China News Service, Yibin, October 9th. Title: After the fishing nets were put away: the turnaround of the fishermen in the "First City on the Yangtze River"

Author Cheng Zhao

For Xie Fukun, a 55-year-old assistant ranger at the Cuiping District Aquatic Fisheries Station in Yibin City, work does not always end during the day. During the day, we patrol along the river, and sometimes at night, we patrol until eleven or twelve o'clock. If the surveillance found that someone was fishing illegally late at night, he and his companions would have to rush to the riverside, work in pairs, record the time and location, take photos and collect evidence, and then hand over the clues to fishery law enforcement officials. Xie Fukun is very familiar with this stretch of river. A few years ago, when he stood here, he had another identity - a fisherman.

The picture shows Xie Fukun (first from left), assistant ranger of the Aquatic Products and Fisheries Station in Cuiping District, Yibin City, Sichuan Province, and his colleagues patrolling along the river. Photo courtesy of Xie Fukun

Yibin is located at the intersection of Jinsha River, Minjiang River and Yangtze River, and is known as "the first city along the Yangtze River". Xie Fukun grew up on the banks of the Minjiang River. He followed his father on a boat as soon as he entered elementary school. “There are many brothers and sisters in my family, and we basically relied on fishing to make a living.” He remembers that when he was a child, there were so many fish in the river that a few nets could be enough for the family. But after 2015, Xie Fukun obviously felt that it was getting harder and harder to catch fish. “In the past, one or two or two or three kilograms were caught in a net, but later on, there were often only one, two, two or three small fish.” It became increasingly difficult to maintain a living with the income from fishing. He also wanted to go ashore and find another way to make a living, but he didn’t know what else to do besides fishing.

In 2020, Yibin completed the task of withdrawing fishing in key waters of the Yangtze River Basin ahead of schedule, with 630 fishing boats and 1,186 fishermen withdrawing and landing. In 2021, the “ten-year fishing ban” in key waters of the Yangtze River Basin will be fully launched. "I have been fishing for decades, but I stopped fishing all of a sudden. I felt very disappointed and didn't know what to do." Xie Fukun recalled that after the fishing was stopped, the local fishermen were organized to learn planting, breeding and other skills. Later, he learned that assisting rangers would be recruited from fishermen who had retired from fishing. He signed up for the assessment and returned to the familiar riverside in 2021.

Only this time, Xie Fukun no longer casts a net, but protects the fish.

Like Xie Fukun, fishermen need to find a new livelihood after landing. Wen Jiang, head of the Fisheries Protection Section of the Yibin Municipal Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, said that among the 1,186 retired fishermen in Yibin, 722 who need to switch to other industries have been employed. Among them, 211 have flexible employment, 200 have been absorbed by enterprises, 140 have been engaged in farming, 92 have started their own businesses, and the rest have found employment through the fishery industry, public welfare positions, etc.

The picture shows the scene of the signing meeting of the fishermen’s agreement to quit fishing and switch to production in Cuiping District, Yibin City. Photo courtesy of Yibin Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau

Changing identities was not easy at first. Xie Fukun said that when the patrol first started, illegal fishing and illegal fishing still occurred from time to time on the river. In addition to inspections, they also distribute promotional materials and persuade people along the river.

Why let the fishermen of the past protect the fish?

According to Wen Jiang, the answer lies precisely in their fishing experience over the past few decades. Veteran fishermen are familiar with shoals, reefs and hidden waters, understand the movement patterns of different fish, and can more easily identify hidden fishing gear and abnormal water movements. As residents along the river, they are familiar with the surrounding fishermen and villagers, and can communicate more easily when publicizing fishing ban policies and discouraging violations.

Assisting rangers do not have law enforcement qualifications. Wen Jiang introduced that Yibin has now formed a connection mechanism for "front-end evidence collection and reporting by patrollers, rapid response and disposal by law enforcement departments, and closed-loop processing of executions (administrative law enforcement and criminal justice)." The experience of being familiar with water conditions and fish conditions has become another "skill" for these retired fishermen to return to the river.

Over the past few years, Xie Fukun felt that the Yangtze River was also changing. He often patrols through Hejiang Gate. The Jinsha River and Minjiang River merge into the Yangtze River here. Xie Fukun said that in recent years, from autumn to winter to early spring, wild fish under the water have become more and more visible to the naked eye, and more and more people are watching fish on the shore. Monitoring data recorded this change. The overall aquatic life integrity index in the Yangtze River Basin of the province has improved by 2 levels compared with before the fishing ban. In addition, Yibin continues to carry out multiplication and release. As of 2026, a total of more than 19.04 million fry of various types have been released.

Wen Jiang introduced that since the implementation of the "ten-year fishing ban" in the Yangtze River, fishes with short reproductive cycles and strong adaptability such as carp, grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp have taken the lead in recovering, forming an obvious fish aggregation phenomenon in the Sanjiang Estuary of Yibin. "This is not just a sign of 'more fish', but also an intuitive signal of the gradual recovery of the Yangtze River's aquatic ecology."

Some rare and endangered species have also seen new changes. The Yangtze River sturgeon is a national first-level protected wild animal. Wen Jiang introduced that from 2023 to 2026, the Yangtze River sturgeon natural reproduction experiment has been carried out in the Yibin section of the Yangtze River (Jinsha River) for four consecutive years. In 2026, scientific researchers observed for the first time the natural spawning of artificially bred Yangtze River sturgeons in natural waters without fences, providing new basis for the exploration of the reconstruction of Yangtze River sturgeon wild populations.

From retreating arrests to patrolling, Xie Fukun has been guarding the riverside for more than five years. In the past, he supported his family by catching fish in the river; now, he patrols along the same section of the river every day, watching the fish regroup. The relationship between people and the river continues more harmoniously with the folded fishing nets. (End)

(China Internet Development Foundation China Positive Energy Network Communication Special Fund Support Project)