A recent article in National Science Review (NSR), entitled “Can the Ten-Year Fishing Ban Save the Yangtze River?”, systematically reviewed the implementation background, phased progress, and preliminary ecological outcomes of the Yangtze River ten-year fishing ban. It reported positive signals such as the recovery of the Yangtze finless porpoise population and the reappearance of Ochetobius elongatus. The ten-year fishing ban represents an important institutional arrangement for aquatic biodiversity conservation at the basin scale in China. However, to scientifically answer the complex question of whether the Yangtze River can be “saved,” the issue should be evaluated within a more systematic ecological framework. Based on fundamental ecological principles, this paper proposes a hierarchical and classified assessment framework from three dimensions: fish life-history types, ecological organizational levels including individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems, and assessment functions including eff