30 Chinese fishing ships have set off from the city of Sanya, in south China's Hainan province, to trawl in Nansha islands in the South China Sea.

Around 500 fishermen are going to trawl the sea areas which are not covered by the annual fishing ban. The fishing expidition is the largest ever held voluntarily by local fishermen.

It is expected to take 5 days to reach the destination and they will spend 20 days fishing there.

Nansha waters have been a major fishing spot for Hainan province, as the water's fishing capacity reaches 5 Million tons a year.