In April 2025, something happened on the Chishui River in southwestern China that scientists had not witnessed in a quarter of a century. Twenty adult Yangtze sturgeon, released into the water by researchers, began to spawn naturally. Their eggs hatched. Fry emerged. For a species declared extinct in the wild by the IUCN in 2022, it was a moment of quiet triumph, and it marked the culmination of one of the most ambitious Yangtze River restoration campaigns ever attempted.
Asia’s longest river, the Yangtze, has been in ecological decline for seven decades. Dams, overfishing, pollution, and shipping traffic transformed a waterway that supports 400 million people into one of the most threatened river systems on the planet. Now, a coordinated set of interventions, including a 10-year fishing ban, the removal of hundreds of small hydropower dams, and sweeping legal protections, is producing results that have surprised even the scientists studying them.
How the Yangtze River Reached Crisis Point
Stretching nearly 6,400 kilometers from the glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau to the estuary at Shanghai, the Yangtze River basin is home to roughly one-third of China’s population and generates more than 40 percent of the country’s GDP. It also hosts an extraordinary diversity of aquatic life, with over 400 fish species and the only freshwater populations of finless porpoise in the world.
Decades of intensive development took a heavy toll. By the early 2000s, fish stocks in the Yangtze had fallen by an estimated 85 percent compared with mid-20th-century levels. The baiji, or Yangtze River dolphin, was declared functionally extinct in 2006, the first cetacean driven to extinction by human activity, and a third of all freshwater fish species now face extinction globally. The Chinese paddlefish followed, last seen in 2003 and formally declared extinct in 2019. The Yangtze sturgeon, a fish that can grow to over two meters in length and survive for decades, was pushed to the brink, with no confirmed natural reproduction recorded after the year 2000.
The causes were multiple and mutually reinforcing. Small hydropower dams, built in their thousands during the 1950s and 1960s to address local energy shortages, fragmented habitats, and blocked migratory routes. Unregulated fishing, including the use of electric nets and dynamite, depleted stocks. Sand mining, industrial discharge, and agricultural runoff degraded water quality. Shipping traffic on the main channel added noise and disturbance.
By the time scientists and conservation groups began sounding the alarm, the Yangtze was widely considered one of the most polluted and ecologically degraded major rivers in the world, prompting WWF to designate it a priority conservation region.
The 10-Year Fishing Ban: A Policy Gamble That Paid Off
In 2017, Chinese authorities imposed a 10-year fishing moratorium on the Chishui River, a 400-kilometer tributary flowing through Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces that ecologists identified as one of the last intact refuges for the Yangtze’s rare and endemic fish. The results came quickly: catch per unit effort nearly tripled, biomass surged, and the number of rare species recorded rose from seven to nine.
The success of the Chishui pilot gave policymakers the confidence to go further. On January 1, 2021, a full 10-year fishing ban took effect across the entire Yangtze River basin, including its major tributaries and connected lakes. It was an unprecedented move: the largest freshwater fishing ban in human history, affecting an estimated 200,000 fishers who were compensated and retrained for alternative livelihoods at a cost of roughly three billion dollars.
The ban was accompanied by the Yangtze River Protection Law, which came into force in March 2021 as China’s first watershed-specific legislation. The law established a national coordination mechanism, mandated ecological flow requirements, restricted sand mining, and created a framework for cross-provincial enforcement. It marked a fundamental shift from treating the river as a resource to be exploited to recognizing it as an ecosystem to be protected.
Beyond regulation, the policy design itself drew on an unexpected source: evolutionary game theory. Researchers modelled how fishing communities, local governments, and central authorities would respond to different combinations of rewards and penalties, then designed the ban’s enforcement structure around the most stable equilibrium. The approach appears to have worked, producing compliance rates that have exceeded early expectations. The success comes as China pursues broader environmental goals, including a commitment to carbon neutrality before 2060.
300 Dams Demolished: Inside the Chishui River Restoration
Fishing restrictions alone could not restore the river’s health. Even with nets out of the water, the network of small hydropower stations that had accumulated over decades continued to block fish migration, dry out riverbeds, and fragment habitats. In 2020, a parallel campaign began: identifying and removing dams that no longer served an essential purpose.
The scale of the task was daunting. Teams of researchers led by Liu Fei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Hydrobiology surveyed all 373 small hydropower stations and 357 dams across the Chishui River basin. Each structure was assessed individually, weighing its ecological impact against its role in flood control, drinking water supply, and irrigation. Only those with non-negotiable functions were retained.
By the end of December 2024, the numbers told a remarkable story: 300 of 357 dams had been dismantled, representing 84 percent of the total, and 342 of 373 small hydropower stations had been decommissioned, or 91.7 percent. In Sichuan province alone, authorities rectified 5,131 hydropower stations by the end of 2021, shutting down 1,223 of them.
The removals reconnected tributaries that had been cut off for decades, restoring water flow and reopening spawning grounds for migratory fish. Sections of river that had periodically dried out entirely now run freely again. The campaign represents one of the largest state-led dam removal initiatives in history, surpassing in scale even the well-publicised removals on the Klamath and Elwha rivers in the United States.
“These measures have significantly reduced hydropower density along the river,” said Yi Yun, head of the water resources department of Guizhou province, “while ensuring that local water needs for drinking and farming are still being met.”
The Yangtze Sturgeon: From “Extinct in the Wild” to Spawning Again
Among the species that stand to benefit most from the dam removals is the Yangtze sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus), a critically endangered fish sometimes called the river’s last giant. Growing up to 2.5 meters long and living for decades, the sturgeon is a living fossil that predates the dinosaurs, but it could not survive the combined pressures of habitat loss, overfishing, and blocked migration routes.
In 2022, the International Union for Conservation of Nature officially classified the Yangtze sturgeon as extinct in the wild. No natural spawning had been confirmed since 2000. The species survived only in captivity, with a few hundred individuals maintained in breeding programs.
The dam removal campaign changed the equation. In April 2025, researchers from the Institute of Hydrobiology released 20 adult sturgeon into the Dayuba section of the Chishui River in Guizhou province. The fish adapted quickly to their restored habitat, and within weeks, scientists observed spawning behavior. Eggs were laid. Fry hatched. For the first time this century, the Yangtze sturgeon had reproduced without human intervention.
“The Chishui River’s ecology now meets the Yangtze sturgeon’s habitation and breeding needs,” said Liu Huanzhang, director of the institute’s Aquatic Biodiversity Conservation and Utilization Laboratory. “This marks a critical step toward restoring a self-sustaining wild population.”
The sturgeon is not alone. Researchers have recorded the return of 11 species that had disappeared from the Chishui for years, including the eel and several endemic fish. The Chinese sucker (Myxocyprinus asiaticus), a distinctive fish with a sail-like dorsal fin, and the slender tongue sole (Cynoglossus gracilis) have both shown signs of population recovery, with the latter extending its freshwater migration further upstream than recorded in decades. This mirrors global patterns, where marine and freshwater species can rebound when given protection.
What the Data Shows: Is the Yangtze Actually Recovering?
The most comprehensive assessment of the fishing ban’s impact was published in February 2026 in the journal Science. A team led by Professor Chen Yushun of the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed fish community data from 57 river reaches across the Yangtze main channel, spanning the years 2018 to 2023, both before and after the full ban took effect.
The findings were unequivocal. Fish biomass more than doubled, with a median increase of 209 percent across all monitored sections. Species richness rose by 13 percent. Larger-bodied species, which are typically the first to decline under fishing pressure, showed particularly strong gains, with their biomass increasing by 232 percent. The body condition of individual fish, a measure of health and nutritional status, improved for both large and small species.
“This is one of the first times in freshwater conservation history that government measures have not just worked but have really improved things,” said Sébastien Brosse of the University of Toulouse, a co-author of the study, speaking to The Guardian.
Further evidence arrived in April 2026, when China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs released its annual bulletin on aquatic biological resources in the Yangtze River Basin. The aquatic biological integrity index, a composite measure of ecosystem health, had improved by two full levels compared with the period before the ban. Monitoring across the basin had recorded 351 native fish species, an increase of 43 species compared with surveys conducted between 2017 and 2020. In the main stream, monitored fish stocks had recovered to roughly twice pre-ban levels.
Among the most encouraging signals is the recovery of the Yangtze finless porpoise. Known for its permanent smile-like expression, this freshwater cetacean is the river’s only remaining whale species following the baiji’s extinction. Observed numbers rose from 445 individuals in 2017 to 595 in 2022, an increase of roughly 33 percent, with further surveys underway.
Recovery at a Glance
| Indicator | Pre-Ban (2017–2020) | Post-Ban (2021–2026) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fish biomass (main channel) | Baseline | Doubled | +209% median |
| Species richness | Baseline | Improved | +13% |
| Native fish species recorded | 308 | 351 | +43 species |
| Aquatic biological integrity index | Baseline | Improved | +2 levels |
| Finless porpoise population | 445 (2017) | 595 (2022) | +33% |
| Yangtze sturgeon wild spawning | None since 2000 | Confirmed April 2025 | First this century |
| Chishui River dams removed | 357 present | 300 dismantled | 84% removed |
| Chishui hydropower stations decommissioned | 373 operating | 342 shut down | 91.7% decommissioned |
How the Yangtze Compares to Global River Restoration Efforts
The Yangtze River restoration does not exist in isolation. It joins a growing global movement to remove obsolete dams and revive degraded rivers, though at a scale that dwarfs comparable projects elsewhere.
The largest dam removal in United States history took place on the Klamath River, which flows through Oregon and California, where four hydroelectric dams were dismantled between 2023 and 2024. The project reconnected over 600 kilometers of salmon habitat and is already showing results, with Chinook salmon returning to spawning grounds in Oregon for the first time in more than a century.
On Washington state’s Elwha River, the removal of two dams in 2012 and 2014 led to the rapid return of all five Pacific salmon species and the rebuilding of the river’s estuary.
Across Europe, France removed more than 1,200 obsolete barriers between 2010 and 2020, while Spain, the United Kingdom, and Finland have all accelerated dam removal programs. The European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 now explicitly targets the restoration of 25,000 kilometers of free-flowing rivers, supported by Dam Removal Europe, a coalition that has documented more than 5,000 barrier removals across the continent.
What sets the Yangtze apart is the combination of measures deployed simultaneously: a fishing ban, dam removals, legal protections, sand mining restrictions, and captive breeding programs for critically endangered species. The rewilding of Ukraine’s Velykyi Luh forest following the Kakhovka dam breach showed a similar pattern: when barriers are removed, ecosystems can rebound with surprising speed. The Klamath and Elwha projects focused primarily on physical barrier removal. The Yangtze campaign addresses the full spectrum of pressures on the ecosystem, from extraction to habitat fragmentation to pollution, under a unified policy framework.
The approach is already being studied as a potential model for other heavily impacted Asian river systems, and it parallels China’s ambitious marine ranching projects that are applying similar ecological restoration principles to ocean habitats, including the Mekong, where dam construction continues to threaten one of the world’s most productive freshwater fisheries.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Yangtze River recovering?
Yes. Multiple independent data sources confirm a significant recovery is underway. Fish biomass has more than doubled, species richness has increased by 13 percent, 43 more native fish species have been recorded since the ban, and the aquatic biological integrity index has improved by two levels. The Yangtze finless porpoise population has grown by a third, and the Yangtze sturgeon spawned naturally in the wild in 2025 for the first time in 25 years.
How clean is the Yangtze River now?
Water quality in the Yangtze has improved substantially as part of the broader restoration effort, though challenges remain. A 2025 national survey rated more than 2,500 freshwater bodies across China as having excellent water quality. The Yangtze River Protection Law mandates reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus loading, and the World Bank has committed $200 million in loans to support pollution reduction in the basin. However, agricultural runoff and industrial discharge remain areas of ongoing concern in certain sections.
What is the Yangtze River Protection and Ecological Restoration Program?
The Yangtze River Protection and Ecological Restoration Program is a World Bank-supported initiative launched alongside the Yangtze River Protection Law in 2021. It finances coordinated efforts across multiple provinces to improve water quality, restore riparian habitats, enforce ecological flow requirements, and strengthen cross-sectoral coordination through the river chief system. The program includes $874 million in Chinese government funding and a $200 million International Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan, targeting measurable improvements in water quality and biodiversity across the basin.
What fish species live in the Yangtze River?
The Yangtze River basin is home to over 400 fish species, making it one of the most biodiverse freshwater systems in the world. Notable species include the Yangtze sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus), Chinese sucker (Myxocyprinus asiaticus), slender tongue sole (Cynoglossus gracilis), Chinese paddlefish (declared extinct in 2019), and the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise,, a freshwater cetacean. Many of these species are found nowhere else on Earth, giving the Yangtze exceptional conservation significance.
What is the lifespan of a dam on the Yangtze River?
The small hydropower dams removed on the Chishui River tributary were primarily built in the 1950s and 1960s and had typical design lifespans of 50 to 70 years. Many were already approaching or exceeding their intended service lives when the removal campaign began in 2020. The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze main stem, by contrast, is a concrete gravity structure with a projected lifespan of well over 100 years and is not part of the dam removal program.
The Road Ahead
The Yangtze restoration is still in its early stages. Scientists caution that while the initial data is encouraging, sustained recovery will depend on continued enforcement of the fishing ban, ongoing water quality improvements, and careful management of the remaining dams on the main channel and larger tributaries. The Three Gorges Dam and other large hydropower installations continue to block the migration of the Chinese sturgeon and other anadromous species, and no technical solution,, fish ladders, elevators, or trap-and-haul systems,, has yet proven fully effective at that scale.
Climate change adds further uncertainty, a challenge familiar to water-stressed regions worldwide. Glacial retreat on the Tibetan Plateau, which feeds the Yangtze’s headwaters, could alter seasonal flow patterns in ways that affect spawning cues and habitat availability. Rising water temperatures may shift species distributions and favor invasive organisms.
Still, the direction of travel is clear. After seven decades of decline, the Yangtze is showing measurable, scientifically documented signs of recovery. The combination of political will, scientific rigor, and sustained investment that made this possible offers a template that extends far beyond China’s borders. For the Yangtze sturgeon, the finless porpoise, and the millions of people who depend on Asia’s longest river, that is reason for genuine hope.
