Fishermen on Yangtze embrace new life as Xi urges conservation

Beijing, Jan 8 : Located along the Yangtze River, former fisherman Song Bin’s fish restaurant touts the finest view of the Liziba station, a landmark of southwest China metropolis Chongqing where sky trains running through a residential building are an everyday feature.
Song, 47, used to serve his guests with delicious dishes aboard his own ship on the Yangtze River, Xinhua news agency said in a report.
Back then, Chongqing, a major city in the upper reaches of the Yangtze, beckoned droves of tourists by its quintessential combination of the majestic river view and fine dining. Behind the marvelous dining pleasure were leftovers stealthily dumped into the waterway by some ships despite a government ban.
On January 1 this year, a 10-year fishing ban took effect in pivotal waters of the Yangtze, after 332 conservation areas along the river enforced the fishing ban a year ago, to help the river recover from dwindling aquatic resources and degrading bio-diversity.
President Xi Jinping has attached great importance to the ecological protection of the 6,300-km-long Yangtze, China’s longest and the world’s third-longest river, as well as the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt which covers nine provinces and two municipalities and accounts for more than 40 percent of the country’s population and economic aggregate.
The status and role of the river and the economic belt mean the development along the river must prioritize ecology and “green development” to respect natural, economic and social rules, Xi, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, said as he presided over a meeting on advancing the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in Chongqing on January 5, 2016.