Can the “10-year fishing ban” rescue biodiversity of the Yangtze River?

Rivers and their lakes are among the world’s most important ecosystems supporting high biodiversity and providing various services through connections with vast landscapes. Reconciling exploitation with sustainability remains one of the world’s greatest challenges to maintain and/or recover the health of river ecosystems and hence their biodiversity and ecosystem services.1 As one of the major national initiatives toward building “ecological civilization” and an extensive protection of the Yangtze River in China, a “10-year fishing ban” plan (TYFB) was launched from January 2021.