China implements strict measures to ward off illegal fishing

Authorities have vowed to impose the strictest summertime fishing moratorium and combat destructive electric fishing practices as part of China's annual "Shining Sword" mission aimed at warding off illegal fishing on rivers and at sea, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Friday.

Collaboration will also be stepped up with maritime neighbors to fight illegitimate angling across borders during the moratorium, which lasted from May through September in 2023, said Liu Xinzhong, head of the ministry's China Fishery Law Enforcement.

Rolled out in 2017, "Shining Sword" this year will ramp up the crackdown on illegal angling of eel larvae on the estuary of the Yangtze River, which is fueled in part by high demand in Japan, he told a news conference in Beijing.

"The job is directly linked to the decadelong fishing moratorium imposed on the Yangtze," he said, referring to the ban that will last through 2031 to repair the river's ecology.

Liu said his administration will work with market and police departments to repel organized, large-scale illegal fishing on the Yangtze, and strengthen control of fishing vessels to facilitate the fishing moratorium at sea.

More control over such vessels also helps with carrying out exclusive special fishing policy, he said, referring to the exclusive fishing rights in a particular area or for a specific purpose during a moratorium.

Liu also pledged heavy punishment to deter electric fishing, which involves using electricity to catch fish.

"Electric fishing, which does not distinguish between species or sizes, results in a wholesale depletion of aquatic life. It is a destructive fishing method that leads to overexploitation and irreversible damage," he said.

Liu said severe penalties must be imposed to deter such behavior. Law enforcement will be stepped up to shut down underground workshops making electric fishing equipment.