For most of the 20th century, the Yangtze River — the longest river in Asia, the third longest on Earth — was being systematically emptied. Decades of intensive fishing, industrial pollution, dam construction, and shipping traffic had driven the river's fish populations into freefall. The baiji, or Yangtze river dolphin, was declared functionally extinct in 2006. The Yangtze finless porpoise teetered on the edge. Fish biomass had collapsed to a fraction of historic levels.
In 2021, China took radical action: a complete 10-year ban on all commercial fishing across the entire Yangtze mainstem and key tributaries. More than 111,000 fishing boats were recalled. Approximately 230,000 fishermen were resettled and given alternative employment, with China investing over $2.74 billion USD in compensation and retraining.
The early results, published in a series of peer-reviewed studies in early 2026, are extraordinary.
The Numbers
Comparing data from 2018–2020 (the pre-ban baseline) with 2021–2023 (the first years of the moratorium), researchers found:
- Fish biomass more than doubled — with some surveys recording increases of 209% to 235%
- Species richness increased by 13% — more species being found in survey sites
- Larger-bodied, higher-trophic-level fish — often the first to disappear under heavy fishing pressure — are rebounding most strongly
- The Yangtze finless porpoise, critically endangered, grew from 445 individuals in 2017 to 595 in 2022 — an increase of around a third
- Endangered species including the Yangtze sturgeon, Chinese sucker, and several others are showing initial signs of recovery
- The slender tongue sole, a migratory fish, is now found further upstream than before — its range expanding as conditions improve
Why This Matters Globally
The Yangtze is home to an estimated 370 species of fish. It is one of the most biodiverse freshwater systems on Earth. It is also one of the most degraded. That degradation, researchers note, had been ongoing for seven decades before the ban — a period of near-continuous ecological decline.
The speed of the recovery is striking. Just three to four years of fishing pressure removed has produced measurable, significant improvements across multiple ecological indicators. This aligns with evidence from other large-scale fishing closures globally — nature, it turns out, is remarkably resilient when given the chance.
The study, published in Science in February 2026, was led by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and represents the most comprehensive post-ban ecological assessment yet conducted.
What Comes Next
The fishing ban runs until 2030. Scientists are cautiously optimistic but note that sustained recovery will require more than just stopping fishing. Ongoing challenges include illegal fishing, industrial pollution, and the legacy effects of upstream dams on water flow and temperature. The resettlement of 230,000 fishermen, while expensive and disruptive, appears to be largely holding: by December 2025, 142,000 of the fishermen able and willing to work had been successfully reemployed.
The scale of what China has done — removing an entire industry from one of the world's great rivers, and investing billions to make that removal stick — is without precedent. The scale of the recovery unfolding in response may be, too.
"The results confirm that removing fishing pressure can rapidly reverse ecological collapse in large river systems," the study's authors concluded.
Sources: Science (February 2026) · The Guardian, February 12, 2026 · Inside Climate News · Optimist Daily · Anthropocene Magazine · Chinese Academy of Sciences
