China, the world's largest harvester of aquatic products, is slated
to cut its fishing work-force and vessels by around 10 percent in
the coming five years to preserve fishery resources and address
problems brought about by the implementation of international
fishing pacts, a senior fisheries official said last Saturday in
Beijing.
Yang Jian, director of China's Fisheries Bureau, said 30,000
fishing boats, out of the country's total of 244,336, will have to
withdraw from offshore waters by the year 2006, because of
dwindling offshore fish stocks and shrinking fishing areas, the
result of agreements signed with neighboring countries.
Over-fishing and pollution in recent years have caused the
deterioration of the offshore environment and depletion of fishery
resources, Yang said in an interview.
The official said China has achieved its goal of maintaining "zero
growth" in marine fisheries output for three years in a row,
beginning with 1999.
The country's marine fisheries output totaled 12.96 million tons
between January and November last year, a drop of 2.67 percent from
the harvest for the same period in 2000, according to the latest
statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Efforts to strictly control the extent of fishing by reducing the
number of fishing vessels and expanding aquaculture operations are
helping in this process, he said.
"This year, we plan to take 6,000 fishing boats out of operation
through the implementation of a scrapping system and the transfer
of fishermen to other jobs," he said.
The official said he estimates that 200,000 fishermen will have to
find work in other sectors in the coming five years, partly because
of the fishing agreements China has signed with South Korea, Japan
and Viet Nam.
Under rules enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law
of the Sea, which China became a signatory to in 1996, all coastal
nations are allowed jurisdiction over resources up to 200 nautical
miles (370 kilometers) from their shores, according to Zhang
Hecheng, vice-director of the bureau.
China has signed fishing agreements with its neighbors South Korea,
Japan and Viet Nam, with which it shares seas, but where there is
less than 400 nautical miles between them, according to Zhang.
Implementation of the agreements with the three countries will see
more than 30,000 Chinese fishing vessels retreat from their
traditional fishing grounds, and will affect the lives of 300,000
offshore fishermen, said Cui Lifeng, a division director of the
bureau.
Yang Jian said preferential treatment will be given to offshore
fishermen who turn to aquaculture, and they will also be encouraged
to set up processing plants or get involved in ocean fishing.
The government will compensate fishermen withdrawn from offshore
fishing, he said, without specifying any figures.
(China Daily January
19, 2002)