Ti Gong
The plaque of the new laboratory is unveiled.
A laboratory was launched by Shanghai Ocean University and the Shanghai Aquatic Wildlife Conservation and Research Center on Monday, the day China’s first Yangtze River protection law came into effect.
The law is the first in China made for a specific river basin and aims to promote well-coordinated environmental conservation and avoid excessive development. As well as strengthening protection of the ecology of Asia’s longest river, the law also restricts exploitation of shorelines and imposes tougher punishments for violations that could damage the environment. Fishing, for example, is banned in all of the Yangtze’s natural waterways, including in its main tributaries and lakes.
The university has been cooperating with the research center in many areas, including the protection of the Chinese sturgeon, finless porpoise and other aquatic life in the estuary, the investigation and supervision of aquatic life and the ecological environment, and the rescue and conservation of endangered aquatic wildlife.
The new laboratory is their latest cooperation. It will carry out systematic investigation and long-term supervision on aquatic living resources and the environment at the estuary and develop the biology-friendly technology needed.
It aims to supervise rare aquatic life, tagged aquatic life released for restoration of ecology, important economic organisms and the estuary environment around the clock and build a database for aquatic wildlife conservation and research.
The laboratory will assess aquatic life resources and the environment, and the endangered species situation, such as the Chinese sturgeon and finless porpoise, and important aquatic animals including coilia and eel seedlings. They will also evaluate the effect of protection zones and fishing bans and release a regular local water health index report.
Teachers and students at the university have been working hard to protect the ecological balance in the Yangtze River and promote sustainable development of fishing resources.
In March 28, 2018, the university and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs’ Yangtze River Fisheries Administration set up a strategic center for aquatic wildlife protection and research in the river.
Taking advantage of the university’s strength in various relevant disciplines, the center carries out research to provide technological support and consultation services for authorities in areas including fishery policy and regulation, aquatic living resources, river ecological environment, fishery supervision and law enforcement, fishery economy and public administration. It has submitted about 30 investigation reports, proposals and risk assessments on fishing ban decisions in the past three years.
For example, Tang Yi, deputy director of the center and other teachers led seven teams with 38 members to the provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou, and the city of Chongqing in July and August 2019. They interviewed around 500 fishing families on their awareness and willingness to comply with the fishing ban, about compensation for the seizure of their fishing gear and government support for changing their careers.
The research resulted in seven reports and uncovered some problems in enforcement of policies that guide fishing families’ retreat from fishing, providing preferences for authorities to improve related work.
A team from Shanghai Ocean University interviews a fisherman in Hunan Province.
Last year, Tang’s team researched law enforcement capacity development and some of their proposals on topics such as coordination between government departments and punishment for violations were adopted by the government.
After the Yangtze River Protection Law was passed last year, it started new research to draft regulations on aquatic life protection to support enforcement of the law.
Chen Tinggui, a vice dean at the center, has been researching the influence of the fishing retreat policy. He and his students submitted a suggestion for the government to offer vocational training for fishermen to help them get new jobs after talking to fishing families face to face.
Tang Wenqiao, a professor at the university, has been working on Yangtze River protection for 20 years. He had found the swordfish in the Yangtze River was decreasing and called for protection of the species as well as the river.
Tang also found signs of finless porpoise near Chongming Island and has been researching them since 2012. On September 27 in 2018, 17 were spotted on September 27 in 2018.
To protect the endangered animal, work was done on the feasibility of relocating finless porpoises to special water areas for protection. His proposal to build up a finless porpoise breeding base at the Dongfengxisha Reservoir is being verified.
Li Chenhong, another professor at the university, specializes in fish genetics. He and his team are working hard to make their bold idea — to revive species by using genes collected in scales found in the river — into reality.
（来源：上海日报，2021年3月1日，来源：https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/2103015291/）