Story of the First Island in Yangtze River Chongqing Section

Chongqing- With green bamboos on both sides intertwined into forests, a clean flagstone path winds forward, where century-old longan trees and rows of sugar cane can be seen everywhere. This is the illustrious view of Zhongba Island in the Jiangjin District of Chongqing.

Zhongba Island is known as “the first island in the Yangtze River Chongqing Section.” Due to its pleasant scenery and simple folk customs, many people come to visit and enjoy the tranquility.

Solving soil erosion

Zhongba Island has attracted many people to mine for its abundant sandstone resources in the past.

 “When I was young, I often saw boats stopped along the island, where people dug for the soil and sand,” said Zhao Zegui, a 56-year-old resident of Zhongba Island. “Those boats throw useless stones, sand, and even rubbish into the river."

This leads to soil erosion, one of the biggest problems on Zhongba Island at that time.

In Zhao’s memory, Zhongba Island, with a total area of about 2.7 square kilometers, was surrounded by a circle of sandstone deposits.

Due to the illegal mining, part of the sandstone layer seen now is already a “shrunk” version.

Since July 1, 2015, Jiangjin District completely banned the sand mining in the Jiangjin section of the Yangtze River to combat illegal sand mining.

Given the long coastline of the Yangtze River in Jiangjin District, dead spots and blind spots for supervision remain.

Jiangjin District launched the sand mining supervision platform project in key reaches of the Yangtze River in October 2016, and Zhongba Island was one of the key monitoring areas.

Besides, the island residents started to realize the seriousness of soil erosion and boycotted the mining ships through publicity and guidance by the local government.

Whenever someone came to mine in Zhongba Island, the local islanders would ask them to leave. There have been no mining ships around Zhongba Island after years of efforts in protection.

Fishermen going ashore

Another resource in Zhongba Island that has also been over-exploited is fish.

Zhao Zelun, a resident of Zhongba Island, has been fishing around the island with his father since childhood, and he was acquainted with the species of surrounding fish.

He recalled that in the late 1990s, he could catch more than 50 kilograms of fish a day, and that income was enough for a family of seven.

"Uncontrolled fishing will only reduce the fish resources around Zhongba Island, which will affect both the ecological environment and the islanders' lives,” said the relevant person of the Jiangjin District Agriculture and Rural Committee.

Since 2017, Jiangjin District has guided residents on Zhongba Island to ban fishing. They encouraged the gradual abandonment of fishing for licensed fishermen, helping them change to other industries.

Li Xinglian and her husband were both fishermen on Zhongba Island, going ashore in 2018.

Relevant departments provided Li with a public welfare position on the island, offering a stable salary. Her husband was recommended to work in a cargo shipping company because he knew how to sail.

“The income is more stable now,” said Li. Those days of worrying about whether she could catch and sell fish were gone.

In September 2018, Jiangjin District signed an agreement with 543 fishermen on the island to abandon fishing and change the industry.

At the end of the same year, fishing was officially banned in the waters around Zhongba Island.

In December 2020, China passed a Yangtze River conservation law to provide a legal basis for the river’s protection. With 96 provisions in nine chapters, the law is China’s first legislation on a specific river basin and took effect on March 1, 2021.

“After years of proliferation and release and the construction of Artificial fish habitats, there are obviously more fish around Zhongba Island,” said the relevant person in charge of the Jiangjin District Forestry Bureau.

The waters around Zhongba Island have become the core area of the national nature reserve for rare and endemic fish in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

There are spawning and feeding grounds for fish, with over 14 national key protected fish species inhabited, including Yangtze River sturgeon and mullet.

(Wang Lu, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)