China Says Yangtze River Fishing Is No Longer Viable and Installs a Ban

China will impose a 10-year ban on fishing in some key parts of the Yangtze from next year to protect biodiversity along the Asia’s longest river.

The move means more than 100,000 fishing vessels will be made redundant and some 300,000 fish farmers will have to be relocated, vice agriculture minister Yu Kangzhen said. Such a large-scale ban is “unprecedented and rare,” he said, adding that the nation has already restricted fishing this year in 332 protection zones along the river.