The local fishery authority plans to enact measures by February to preserve the dwindling population of long-tailed anchovies in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, local media reported Wednesday.

Shanghai, along with Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, will ban fishing, construction and the dumping of pollutants in some areas of the Yangtze River to ensure that the fish will be able to traverse the river to reproduce, according to a report in the Youth Daily.

However, details of the measures have yet to be released.

The population of the long-tailed anchovy, considered a delicacy in the region, has plunged from around 3,000 tons in 1980s to around 50 tons last year, according to an official from the Yangtze River Basin Fishery Resource Management Committee.

"Many local people love to eat this species in the spring, and many fishermen make a living off of it. Because it has such a good economic return, we will try to protect it," said Zhao Yimin, the committee's director.

In December, the Ministry of Agriculture approved a 200-kilometer stretch along the river as a protection zone for the long-tailed anchovy.

Authorities will forbid fishing and land reclamation in specific parts of the zone called core areas, Zhao said. Outside the core areas, fishermen will be allowed to catch the long-tailed anchovy as long as they have the proper fishing license.

The committee said it would issue 1,545 fishing licenses this year, the same as last year.

Every spring, the long-tailed anchovy migrates about 1,000 kilometers along the Yangtze River, from Shanghai to Hubei Province.

The fish lays its eggs during the journey and the river's current carries the spawn down river where they grow into adult fish.

Despite the measure, Zhao was not overly optimistic about the future of the long-tailed anchovy.

"The environment of the Yangtze River has deteriorated so quickly that I can only hope that our efforts will delay the extinction of the long-tailed anchovy," Zhao told the Global Times.