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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 19, 2001

Agreement Signed, Boats Deserted, Fishermen Shifted

The local fishery authorities of China's renowned fishing ground Zhoushan Sunday scrapped 22 fishing boats, and other 359 boats are to be deserted in three years as the government trying to shift fishermen to other business.


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Fishermen's New Ways Earning Money
The local fishery authorities of China's renowned fishing ground Zhoushan Sunday scrapped 22 fishing boats.

The local source said it was just a start and other 359 boats are to be deserted in three years.

East China Sea now is crowded with fishing boats as boats from northern provinces are coming southwards due to the implementation of an fishing agreement between China and the Republic of Korea.

Traditional Chinese fishing grounds shrink in accordance with the agreement and the number of fishing boats became surplus in the East China Sea, said Ma Weijun, an official with the Fishery Bureau under the Ministry of Agriculture.


Fishermen Growing Cash Crops
Zhejiang Province in east China, benefiting in fishing, has turned down applications to build new offshore and ocean fishing boats. And more old boats and those unqualified were deserted.

Problems
Local fishery authorities are worried about the future life of fishermen without boats. About 1,200 fishermen need to have new jobs, the local source said. The province now have more than 200,000 fishermen.

Most of fishermen along the East China Sea were not well educated and lack money to initiate new business, a local officialsaid. Although the government have launched a series of preferential policies to help fishermen get new jobs, their future is not very rosy, he added.

Fishing Agreements
The country has signed fishing agreement with Japan and ROK respectively in a move to acquire the long-term protection and utilization of oceanic resources and promote sustained development of the fishery industry.

However, on the other hand, these agreements have affected fishing economy in some places. For example, Shenjiamen, a famous fishing port located in the eastern part of East China's Zhejiang Province where fishery has been the primary industry of for centuries.

Situated on the southeastern tip of Zhoushan Island, Shenjiamen has ideal fishing conditions. The 11,500-metre long natural harbour is situated against a backdrop of mountains which block the north wind. Three islands close to the shore keep away the strong ocean winds.

Due to recent agreements, China can now only send a limited number of boats into the area.

Separate agreements were made with the neighbouring countries in order to implement a new United Nations regulation which stipulates that each country may occupy its own economic zone within 200 sea miles inshore.

Challenge good
"But to us, challenge is a good thing. I mean, we never really questioned our fishery. But now with this challenge, we are forced to think a second time and find new and better ways to develop our economy rather than merely relying on our past," local people said.

"Since we have already lost our superiority in offshore fishing, we must now turn to seawater aquiculture as soon as possible," they said.

To cope with the challenge, the port has strengthened its foreign co-operation and technical upgrading. "We bought some 1 million yuan (US$120,000) worth of large fishing net cases from Norway to replace our small old ones".

Apart from importing net cases, Shenjiamen is also learning advanced techniques from other aquiculture-producing countries. "Of course, apart from all of that, we should also try to come up with more high-quality service programmes in order to further expand our tertiary industry," said fishermen in Shenjiamen.

In addition to operating the nation's largest international aquatic products market, Shenjiamen also plans to expand its tourism industry.




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