Feed the fish and feed the country

Sun Xianli, 50-year-old fisherman from Rizhao, Shandong province

I became a fisherman when I was 19. At the time, there were a lot of fish in the ocean, but we only had a small wooden boat so we couldn't catch as many as we wanted. When I became more experienced, I bought a large boat, but the water wasn't clean anymore so there were fewer fish. Also, the government imposed quotas to protect the fish population.

In 2004, I gave up long-range fishing and started cultivating beds of scallops and mussels. At first, the profits were good, and I could make 3,000 yuan ($484) a year from every mu (0.07 hectare) of mussels and 10,000 yuan for scallops. I owned 1,600 mu in total, so I've lost a lot of money.