Toward mega-river basin restoration: Mid-term evidence and lessons from China’s Yangtze ten-year fishing ban

Qin Li; Jia Kuang; Juan Du; Yi Tang; Yiyang Liu; Yongkui Liu; Zhilong Wu; Erik Jeppesen; Chi Xu; Hong Cao; Jianfang Gui; Wenxuan Cao; Xinbin Duan; Haijun Wang

doi:10.59717/j.tiw.2026.100013

The Innovation Water > 2026 Vol. 1 > No. 1 > 100013

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Toward mega-river basin restoration: Mid-term evidence and lessons from China’s Yangtze ten-year fishing ban

1.
Development Institute and Center for Yangtze River Conservation Theoretical and Policy Research, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
2.
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
3.
Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuhan 430223, China
4.
College of Marine Living Resource Sciences and Management, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
5.
College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
6.
Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security, Beijing 100029, China
7.
College of Public Administration, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330013, China
8.
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Ecological Protection and Resource Utilization of River-lake Networks, State Key Laboratory of Vegetation Structure, Function and Construction, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
9.
Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
10.
Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research (SDC), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China
11.
School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210033, China
12.
State Key Laboratory of Breeding Biotechnology and Sustainable Aquaculture, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
13.
These authors contributed equally

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Corresponding authors: duan@yfi.ac.cn (X.D.); wanghaijun@ynu.edu.cn (H.W.)
Received Date: June 24, 2026

Accepted Date: August 12, 2026

Published Online: August 31, 2026

The Innovation Water 1(1), https://doi.org/10.59717/j.tiw.2026.100013 | Cite this article

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PUBLIC SUMMARY

PUBLIC SUMMARY
1. China’s Yangtze ten-year fishing ban is a landmark basin-scale policy.
  
  Five years on, fish biomass, diversity, and biotic integrity indicate ecological recovery.
  
  Flagship and protected species are recovering alongside broader habitat and biodiversity restoration.
  
  Over 230,000 former fishers shifted livelihoods through employment and pension programs.
  
  Cross-regional coordination, digital monitoring, and joint enforcement have strengthened basin governance.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

China’s Yangtze ten-year fishing ban (YTFB) is a long-term, basin-scale ecological conservation policy, which provides an important case for understanding the large-scale ecosystem restoration of a mega-river basin. By integrating aquatic biodiversity monitoring, longitudinal surveys of former fishers, industrial statistics, and enforcement records, we developed a comprehensive assessment framework to evaluate the outcomes and underlying mechanisms of YTFB after its mid-term implementation. The results show that ecological recovery signals have emerged across the Yangtze River basin following the ban, as indicated by increases in fish biomass, higher native fish species richness, trophic restructuring, and improvements in the Index of Biotic Integrity. Ecological responses were spatially and temporally heterogeneous, potentially reflecting differences in hydrological regimes, river–lake connectivity, historical resource conditions, habitat status, and regional enforcement intensity. Targeted policies such as large-scale exit of fishers, employment transition, pension insurance and social assistance have mitigated the livelihood impacts of the fishing ban on former fishers. Multi-agency enforcement, digital surveillance, and grid-based patrols strengthened the policy implementation capacity. Additionally, fisheries-related industries have undergone a structural transformation, shifting from natural capture fisheries toward aquaculture, recreational fisheries, and potential aquatic ecological product values realization. The outcomes of the YTFB do not represent a single ecological intervention but rather reflect the combined effects of ecological pressure reduction, governance scale matching, livelihood transition of former fishers, and alternative economic pathways. Yet long-term recovery remains constrained by habitat fragmentation, hydrological alteration, climate variability, enforcement costs, and other persistent pressures. The next five years should prioritize integrated aquatic ecosystem restoration and habitat protection, the ultimate objective of the YTFB, through spatially differentiated adaptive management. This case provides a socio-ecological perspective on how large-scale conservation interventions can be designed and sustained in highly modified mega-river systems.
- Yangtze River /
- Ten-Year Fishing Ban /
- Freshwater ecosystem restoration /
- Socio-ecological systems /
- fisheries transition /
- River basin governance

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Li Q., Kuang J., Du J., et al. (2026). Toward mega-river basin restoration: Mid-term evidence and lessons from China’s Yangtze ten-year fishing ban. The Innovation Water 1:100013. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.tiw.2026.100013

Li Q., Kuang J., Du J., et al. (2026). Toward mega-river basin restoration: Mid-term evidence and lessons from China’s Yangtze ten-year fishing ban. The Innovation Water 1:100013. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.tiw.2026.100013

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Toward mega-river basin restoration: Mid-term evidence and lessons from China’s Yangtze ten-year fishing ban

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

PUBLIC SUMMARY

ABSTRACT