China’s Yangtze River, biggest freshwater lakes Poyang and Dongting at risk as fishing, sand mining bans flouted: report
- Central inspection report says pollution and illegal activity causing serious damage to the two lakes connecting to the Yangtze, Asia’s longest river
- Departments concerned admonished for not fully understanding the importance of restoring the ecological environment of the waterway
In a report issued earlier this month, the Central Supervision Office of Ecological and Environmental Protection said that combination of pollution and illegal activity was causing serious damage to the Poyang and Dongting lakes, which connect to the Yangtze.
However, according to the report from the centre’s inspection groups, rules against low dykes in Poyang Lake were not enforced, “fishing bans in key waters and aquatic life protection are not fully implemented, and the problem of agricultural pollution is prominent”.
Low dykes built to retain water had affected water quality in the lake and obstructed connectivity for river and lake systems, an inspection team found during an undercover operation in April. The local government then carried out its own investigation, only to find 44 illegal dykes still standing.
The county of Duchang, for instance, had wide swathes of illegal lowland enclosures in the Nanji Wetland National Nature Reserve that had yet to be “thoroughly cleared and rectified”, the report said.
