Abstract: The Yangtze River, the largest one in China, is a hot area of biodiversity in the world, and one of the rivers with the highest fish diversity in China. On the basis of introducing the main ecological habits of fishes in the Yangtze River and the demand of habitat conditions for the completion of their life history, this paper analyzes the main factors resulting to the decline of fish diversity, habitat loss and overfishing, briefly summarizes the existing protective measures and problems, and puts forward some suggestions on the protection of fish diversity in Yangtze River:① establishing a river basin ecological protection mechanism spearheaded by river basin management agencies and jointly organized by relevant departments and local governments;② launching ecological restoration of tributaries and lakes designedly, dismantling small hydropower stations on tributaries gradually and restoring natural lake-river relation of the lakes;③ raising public awareness of environmental protection and actively establishing a basin-wide fishing ban mechanism and recreational angling mechanism, and encouraging the anglers being managers and supervisors of fisheries.