Figure for eLetter aeg4948: Connectivity is more important than fishing bans

Figure 1. Multiple stressors threating the river-lake ecosystems of the middle and lower Yangtze Basin with collapse of fish catch during the past decades. A) Changes in fish catch and population size of freshwater dolphins and various significant associated events in the Yangtze River. (1) Founding of PR China; (2) extreme flooding events; (3) intensive lake reclamation and river-lake blockage; (4) re-form & opening-up policy starting in 1978; (5) wide application of high-efficiency fishing gear; (6) initiation of spring fishing moratorium policy; (7) operation of the Three Gorges Dam initiated. (B). The river-lake ecosystems under different conditions. Natural state (a, b), states after reclamation and blockage (c) and overfishing (d), and relative contributions of habitat degradation and overfishing to fish catch declines and expected fish catch after the TYFB plan (e). This figure is cited from: Wang H., Wang P., Xu C., Sun Y., Shi L., Zhou L., Jeppesen E., Chen J., and Xie P. (2022). Can the “10-year fishing ban” rescue biodiversity of the Yangtze River? The Innovation 3(3), 100235. (http://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2022.100235)