Large schools of fish migrating up Hanjiang River toward their spawning grounds are hindered by a dam in Xiangyang City, Hubei Province. (Photo/Youth.cn)
(ECNS) -- Local authorities began enforcing a ban on illegal fishing as large schools of fish migrating up Hanjiang River toward their spawning grounds were hindered by a dam in Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, Beijing Youth Daily has reported.
Local residents flocked to Cuijiaying Navigation and Hydropower Complex to loot the fish, which, weighing tens of thousands of kilograms in total, crowded in discharge channels under four hydropower generators.
Witnesses said trails of blood were left on the ground after locals came to snatch the fish. Some caught 200 to 300 kilograms a day, it was stated.
Sun Junjie, a fishery official with the Xiangyang Bureau of Aquatic Products, said enforcement officials rushed to Cuijiaying Dam and stopped illegal fishing after receiving tip-offs on Sunday morning.
Sun added that many more fish migrated to the dam this year compared to previous years due to abundant rainfall and enhanced protection.
The bureau has imposed fishing restrictions and launched around-the-clock monitoring of the fish, and will jointly crack down on illegal fishing with local fisheries, as well as maritime and public security departments, it was said.
Sun noted that nobody was punished so far because "citizens ran away when they saw us in uniform.
Yu Jianxin, a professor of hydraulic and hydropower engineering at Yunnan Agricultural University, said although fish channels were built at the dam, they sometimes do not function as designed. To date there is no good solution to the problem, he confirmed.
