Three Chinese fishermen from east China's
Zhejiang Province have written to United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, calling on people all over the world
to protect the seas together.
The letter was also e-mailed to Koichro Matsuura, director-general
of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), Sharon Capeling-Alakija, general
co-ordinator of the United Nations volunteer organization, and
government leaders of 21 maritime countries.
Huang Genbao, Lin Yongfa and Xi Haihong, who live on the Xiangshan
peninsula in the East China Sea, wrote on behalf of all Chinese
fishermen: "We hope that protection of the seas (and sea life) will
become a sacred mission with the increasing awareness of all
humankind."
They hold that the seas were the cradle of life and are the hope of
humanity's future.
Despite their hope, they said that blind and disorderly development
in recent years has caused serious sea pollution, adversely
affecting marine ecology and causing deterioration of marine
resources.
"As fishermen, we feel profoundly that the 'ageing' process of our
mother sea has been intensified," they said. "So we have given away
our fishing tools that are destructive to immature fish and other
young marine life, and release our catches back into the sea
whenever and wherever we catch them."
The fishermen said they had appealed to the fishery administration
departments in China to prolong a fishing ban and their proposal
had eventually been accepted and put into effect.
The office of the Canadian prime minister has officially responded
to the three fishermen's call, and said Jean Chretien appreciates
their actions to protect seas and oceans.
The Xiangshan peninsula has been dubbed "China's vast fish pond"
for its plentiful fish resources, and its people have a history of
conservation activism.
In
August 2000, local officials noted, 21 fishermen in Xiangshan
founded China's first volunteer organization to better protect the
seas and oceans around the world.
(Xinhua News
Agency August 12, 2002)
