BEIJING: Chinese authorities said they are taking a tough stance against illegal fishing by both domestic and foreign vessels in stretches of the nation’s coastal waters, as the annual summer fishing moratorium got underway on Monday, lasting through mid-August in most areas.
The ban will be observed in parts of the north, east and south to conserve marine fish stocks, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on its website.
It describes the ban as the country’s most influential marine fish conservation effort, and said that regions subject to the ban include the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the waters north of 12 degrees north in the South China Sea.
On Monday, the ministry also launched a law-enforcement operation in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Security and China Coast Guard in the waters off the coast of Shandong and Fujian provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Liu Tianrong, deputy director of China Coast Guard’s South China Sea division, said on Monday that his administration will step up patrols, adopt tough measures against foreign vessels violating the ban, and protect China’s sovereignty and marine interests. “We will abide by the law and take legal action,” he said at a conference in Guangxi, whose coastline is in the Beibu Gulf in the South China Sea.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
