The General Office of the State Council’s Notice on Unswervingly Promoting
Opinions on the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River
State Council issued [2024] No. 12
The people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, all ministries and commissions of the State Council, and all agencies directly under the State Council:
The ban on fishing in key waters of the Yangtze River Basin (hereinafter referred to as the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River) is an important decision made by the Party Central Committee and the State Council for the overall plan and for future generations. It is an important measure to promote the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Zone and restore the vitality of the mother river of the Yangtze River. Since the fishing ban was imposed on January 1, 2021 for more than three years, the resettlement guarantee for fishermen who have retired from fishing has been strong, the management order of the banned fishing waters has been stable, and the recovery of aquatic biological resources has improved. The ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River has achieved important stage results. At the same time, there are still many hidden dangers of illegal fishing, weakened work in some places, insufficient law enforcement and supervision capabilities, and slow recovery of aquatic biodiversity. In order to fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, thoroughly implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on the ten-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, consolidate the results of the work of banning and retiring fishing, and unswervingly promote the ten-year Yangtze River Decade To ban fishing and accelerate the promotion of Yangtze River aquatic biodiversity and water ecological restoration, with the approval of the State Council, the following opinions are hereby made.
1. Optimize the work promotion mechanism
(1) Improve the operation of the mechanism. Adhere to the working mechanism of "central coordination, department coordination, provinces taking overall responsibility, and cities and counties taking charge of implementation." We should effectively improve our political position, regard the ten-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River as a major political task at present and in the future, take the initiative to take action, strengthen coordination and cooperation, and form a joint force in work. The leading departments for various key tasks must give full play to their leading and overall role, relevant departments must proactively cooperate in implementation according to the division of responsibilities, and relevant local people's governments at all levels must effectively assume the main responsibilities. Optimize and improve the Yangtze River aquatic life protection and Yangtze River fishing ban coordination mechanism (hereinafter referred to as the coordination mechanism) and local special work operation mechanisms, and continue to strengthen the government's overall coordination, departmental collaboration, and efficient and smooth operation.
(2) Strengthen supervision and promotion. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with relevant member units of the coordination mechanism, shall supervise and guide the relevant provinces (municipalities directly under the Central Government) on the resettlement of fishermen who have retired from fishing, the enforcement and supervision of fishing bans, and the protection of aquatic life, and will report the implementation status to the State Council in a timely manner. It is necessary to tighten the responsibilities of local entities and eliminate blind optimism, slackness and relaxation, fatigue and war weariness through methods such as open and secret inspections, supervision of listings, notifications and interviews, and public exposure. Improve the positive incentive and reverse accountability mechanism. Those who have achieved remarkable results in banning and retiring arrests will be commended and praised in accordance with relevant national regulations; places, units and individuals that fail to advance the work and fail to fulfill their responsibilities will be held accountable in accordance with laws and regulations. Accountability. Relevant local people's governments at all levels should include the ten-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River into the scope of local government performance assessments and river and lake chief system assessments.
2. Continue to ensure resettlement
(3) Strengthen dynamic and accurate monitoring. It is necessary to establish a dynamic and precise assistance mechanism, improve the information system for the resettlement and security of retired fishermen, refine and implement dynamic tracking and monitoring, and timely update and understand the employment status, family income, and pension receipt of retired fishermen in a timely manner. Relevant localities should rely on the national low-income population dynamic monitoring information platform and the monitoring and assistance mechanism to prevent return to poverty, identify fishermen who have difficulties in living and withdraw from fishing, and promptly include those who meet the conditions within the scope of dynamic monitoring. Civil affairs, human resources and social security, agriculture and rural areas and other departments should strengthen information sharing and comparison, focus on identifying fishermen families in need that are not included in the scope of social assistance, conduct monitoring and early warning of fishermen who need assistance to stop fishing, and dynamically understand the situation of people who need to be protected. , implement corresponding rescue and safeguard measures in a timely manner.
(4) Follow up and provide employment assistance. Relevant localities should strengthen employment services for retired fishermen, do a good job in policy publicity, career guidance and career introduction, and provide all possible assistance to those who have the willingness and ability to find employment. We will continue to organize and carry out various forms of vocational skills training for retired fishermen, and implement vocational training subsidy policies for qualified fishermen in accordance with regulations. Guide all types of employers to actively recruit fishermen who have retired from fishing, and implement relevant subsidy policies for qualified employers in accordance with regulations. Actively carry out employment assistance in the agricultural and rural areas, and include unemployed fishermen who have the willingness and ability to find employment into the scope of cultivating high-quality farmers according to procedures. Guide fishermen who have retired from fishing to start their own businesses, and implement policies such as entrepreneurial guaranteed loans for those who meet the requirements in accordance with regulations. Make overall plans and make good use of public welfare positions, actively place qualified retired fishermen with employment difficulties in accordance with regulations, and achieve at least one person in a "zero-employment" family employed. Carry out follow-up surveys on retired fishermen, and optimize and improve relevant policies and measures in a targeted manner.
(5) Continue to implement pension insurance. Relevant localities must fully implement pension insurance policies, actively guide qualified fishermen who have retired from fishing to pay on time, pay for a long time, and pay at high standards if possible, and continue to promote all the insurance they should have. Implement the pension insurance payment subsidy policy for retired fishermen to ensure that pension insurance payment subsidy funds are received in full and in a timely manner. For fishermen who retire from fishing in three separate places: their place of residence, place of residence, and place of insurance participation, the place of withdrawal shall arrange subsidy funds according to regulations, and the place of insurance participation shall cooperate in providing pension insurance handling services. For those who meet the conditions for receiving pensions, basic pension insurance benefits must be paid in a timely manner to ensure the basic life of retired fishermen in their old age.
3. Continue to strengthen law enforcement and supervision
(6) Improve the law enforcement cooperation mechanism. Agriculture and rural areas (fishery administration), public security, market supervision, transportation, water conservancy and other departments at all levels should further strengthen cross-regional and cross-department law enforcement cooperation, and establish a long-term collaboration mechanism for information platform interoperability, law enforcement resource sharing, and smooth case transfer. Strengthen the connection between executions and carry out joint law enforcement operations as necessary. We will strengthen undercover investigations and unannounced investigations, supervise the handling of major cases by listing them, and conduct notifications, interviews and joint listings for rectification of cases of weak law enforcement and outstanding problems. Relying on the river and lake chief system platform, with counties, cities or towns as basic units, grassroots organizations and "fishermen" can assist in patrolling, improve the grid management system, delineate management areas, and clarify the responsible entities and lists of rights and responsibilities. Announce to the public and accept supervision.
(7) Maintain high-pressure and strict control. Relevant localities should focus on key periods, keep an eye on key areas, key places, key objects, and important species, continue to organize water cruises, land inspections, and online inspections, and strictly investigate and deal with illegal activities such as "electric poison bombing" and "extreme household nets" in accordance with the law. Fishing and selling illegal catches in the market and other illegal and criminal activities. Establish an information management system for legally caught aquatic products, implement purchase inspection requirements for aquatic product processing and business operations, prohibit false propaganda using "Yangtze River wild fish" as a gimmick, and prohibit illegal catches from being listed and traded. Investigate and punish in accordance with the law the acquisition, processing, and sale of illegal catches, as well as the illegal manufacture and sale of prohibited fishing gear and the release of relevant illegal information.
(8) Eliminate hidden dangers of illegal fishing. Relevant localities should strengthen the standardized management of all types of ships in prohibited fishing waters to prevent scientific research, operation, patrol and official ships from illegally engaging in fishing and other activities. Regularly conduct inspections on existing ships that are idle, unmanaged, and have unknown owners on the water, and conduct centralized cleanups of "three no's" (no ship certificate, no ship name, and no port of registration) ships (including high-horsepower speedboats) in accordance with the law. Eliminate the hidden dangers of illegal fishing. Strengthen supervision over the production and sales of prohibited fishing gear, and clean up and ban illegal dens and workshops that manufacture "three noes" ships and prohibited fishing gear in accordance with the law. Strengthen the management of farmers' own ships, and the township people's governments shall uniformly define the purpose, register and file, approve the ship name, and manage the identification, so as to effectively distinguish them from the "three noes" ships.
(9) Crack down on illegal fishing. Relevant localities should explore and develop local legislation on fishing management based on actual conditions, delineate prohibited fishing areas or permitted fishing areas in the Yangtze River's prohibited waters, and clarify the types and quantities of fishing gear that can be used, the types and quantities of fishable species, and the minimum fishing standards. Study and establish a fishing registration system and management platform, and where conditions permit, we can explore the implementation of a real-name registration system in accordance with the law. Strengthen standardized supervision and increase efforts to crack down on illegal fishing. Strengthen publicity and guidance, set up a hotline for reporting with prizes, actively play the autonomous management role of fishing industry associations, and guide fishing enthusiasts to become "fishing guides" and "coordinators" for civilized fishing.
(10) Strengthen law enforcement capacity building. Through existing funding channels, the state supports relevant localities to strengthen the construction of fishery administration and public security-related law enforcement equipment, facilities and capabilities in the Yangtze River Basin, equip them with strong assistance patrol teams, and equip modern law enforcement such as boats, drones, and video surveillance based on actual conditions. equipment and actively promote matching law enforcement capabilities with law enforcement tasks. Relevant localities should effectively strengthen the funding for law enforcement on the Yangtze River ban on arrest, standardize law enforcement attire, certificates and signs, pay work-related injury insurance for law enforcement officers and assisting patrol personnel in accordance with the law, regulate the purchase of personal accident insurance, and fully guarantee the working conditions for on-water duty and case handling of law enforcement on the ban on arrest. .
4. Accelerate ecological restoration
(11) Strengthen the protection of rare and endangered species. Effectively promote the implementation of the action plan to save rare and endangered aquatic organisms such as the Chinese sturgeon, Yangtze sturgeon, and Yangtze finless porpoise. Agriculture, rural areas (fishery administration) and ecological environment departments at all levels should jointly organize regular surveys on the distribution and quality of aquatic organisms and their habitats, strengthen protection measures and ensure investment in protection based on the endangerment levels and risk factors of different species. Increase the research on technology for the protection of rare and endangered species, strengthen the research and protection of aquatic wildlife focusing on rare and endangered species in the Yangtze River at the national level, and cultivate leading talents and teams. Carry out breeding and releasing in a scientific and standardized manner, continue to expand the scale of artificial conservation and breeding and releasing of rare and endangered species such as Chinese sturgeons, conduct natural breeding experiments, and promote the reconstruction of wild habitats. Combined with the preliminary demonstration of major fishery-related projects, the construction of fish passing facilities in the main stream of the Yangtze River was studied. Promote the restoration project of the Chinese sturgeon spawning ground under the Gezhouba Dam, restore the Yangtze River sturgeon habitat, carry out ecological regulation suitable for its life history, and strive to rebuild the natural population in the wild. Strengthen the in-situ and ex-situ protection of the Yangtze finless porpoise, expand the scale of artificial breeding, build artificial breeding and science education bases, and provide emergency protection and rescue in extreme weather. Improve aquatic wildlife containment and rescue capabilities, rely on professional and social containment and rescue forces, and identify a number of aquatic wildlife conservation, breeding, and rescue bases. Actively carry out scientific publicity and international exchanges and cooperation on Chinese sturgeon and other species, and encourage social organizations to participate in the protection and restoration of aquatic life and water ecology in the Yangtze River.
(12) Carry out important habitat restoration. Strengthen the overall protection of aquatic ecosystems, strengthen standardized management of water area development and utilization, strictly limit and strive to reduce adverse impacts. Scientifically delineate important habitats for aquatic life in the Yangtze River Basin, and publish a list of important habitats in a timely manner. Further strengthen the construction and management of aquatic life reserves such as national nature reserves for rare and endemic fish in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. In the project environmental impact assessment work, scientifically carry out aquatic life impact assessment in accordance with relevant guideline requirements and actual needs, strictly control and strive to eliminate the adverse effects of fishing-related projects on aquatic life. For fishing-related projects that have adverse impacts, priority should be given to optimizing site and route selection to avoid the affected areas. If avoidance is indeed impossible, compensation measures must be strictly implemented. Coordinate the implementation of compensation measures for fishery-related projects in the Yangtze River Basin and further leverage the synergy of policies and funds. Implement a number of major projects to protect and restore important ecosystems in key habitats such as spawning grounds, feeding grounds, wintering grounds, and migration channels for aquatic organisms. Strengthen the ecological restoration of rivers and lakes, study the ecological restoration mechanism of water areas, formulate a restoration plan for important river aquatic life migration channels, and restore river connectivity to meet the needs of aquatic life migration through measures such as fish passing facilities, ecological dispatch, irrigation of rivers to attract seedlings, and connection of rivers and lakes. Habits and germplasm exchange requirements.
(13) Strengthen resource investigation and monitoring. Improve the technical standards and methods for aquatic life monitoring and investigation in key waters of the Yangtze River Basin, strengthen professional and technical training for monitoring and investigation practitioners, and improve the standardization level of monitoring and investigation work. Strengthen the construction of monitoring capabilities for aquatic biological resources, scientifically arrange monitoring stations, improve the monitoring and survey network, improve the automation and intelligence level of monitoring systems, strengthen the integrated analysis and comprehensive application of ecological environment big data, and promote information sharing and efficient utilization. Relevant localities must strengthen the monitoring and investigation of the quality of aquatic organisms and their important habitats. Provincial agricultural and rural (fishery and fishery administration) departments must organize and carry out aquatic organism integrity index evaluation within their jurisdiction, and use aquatic organism monitoring survey data and evaluation results as Basis for assessment of local government’s performance of ecological protection duties.
(14) Strengthen the prevention and control of alien species. Carry out regular monitoring and early warning of alien species, and strengthen cross-border and cross-regional alien species invasion information tracking, analysis and early warning. Relevant localities should guide breeding entities to strengthen the management and risk prevention and control of aquaculture of aquatic alien species, and establish anti-escape isolation facilities in accordance with laws and regulations to prevent the escape of farmed alien species. Establish and improve a full-chain prevention and control plan including source prevention, monitoring and early warning, and treatment and restoration, and promote comprehensive management of aquatic invasive alien species. Strengthen the popularization of science on the prevention and control of alien species invasion, regulate folk and religious release activities, and strictly prohibit the release of alien species, artificial hybrids and other aquatic organisms that do not meet ecological requirements into natural open waters.
5. Comprehensively strengthen organization and implementation
Resolutely implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, unswervingly promote the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River, continue to consolidate and improve the resettlement level of fishermen who have retired from fishing, continuously strengthen and improve the law enforcement and supervision mechanism of the fishing ban, and accelerate breakthroughs in the protection of key endangered species and biodiversity bottleneck, accelerate the improvement of the habitat quality of important habitats for aquatic life, and promote the formation of a new development pattern in the Yangtze River Basin in which high-level protection and high-quality development complement each other, and humans and nature coexist harmoniously. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs should work with relevant departments and units to strengthen policy guidance and collaboration, do a good job in supervision and promotion and effect evaluation, and further optimize, adjust, enrich and improve relevant policies and measures based on the actual conditions of different regions. Relevant localities should introduce support policies according to local conditions, enhance policy synergy, and ensure that the tasks of the Yangtze River fishing ban in the past ten years are effectively implemented and the goals are achieved on schedule.
Office of the State Council
March 18, 2024
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