NANJING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The four-month fishing ban, aiming to protect aquatic resources and biodiversity in China's rivers, started Friday.

The annual ban, from March 1 to June 30, will cover the main streams, tributaries and lakes along major rivers including the Yangtze, Pearl and Minjiang rivers.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of east China's Jiangsu Province, working with relevant departments, launched a series of enforcement actions Friday.

Nearly 30 vessels will inspect Jiangsu's main streams for at least 10 days.

Zhang Jianjun, deputy director-general of the provincial agriculture and rural affairs department said that over 60,000-meter-long illegal netting tools have been cleared up, and 405 people violating fishing regulations have been penalized over the past three years.

Ni Zhimin, a fisherman in Hangzhou, the capital of eastern Zhejiang Province, sells the fresh fish he catches in the Qiantang River every day. Ni fished for the last time on Thursday and will wait for four months, like other fishermen, until the ban is over.

The Qiantang River is the largest river in Zhejiang and is known for having the world's largest tidal bore. It accommodates over 85 percent of the freshwater fish species in the province.

However, fish species in the river declined from 149 in the 1970s to 122 in 2019.

From Friday, the entire river basin of the Qiantang River has imposed the fishing ban for the first time. During this period, all forms of fishing activities are banned, except recreational fishing.

The agricultural department and procuratorates in Fujian Province launched a series of fishing ban promotional activities in fishing villages across the province earlier on Feb. 22.

The provincial department of ocean and fisheries said a fishing ban has been imposed on the Minjiang River, a major river in Fujian. Fishing activities for research purposes must be approved by local fishery departments.