East China's Zhejiang Province is a prime example, with local fishermen adding the efforts to cope with the loss of increasingly rare sea resources and go in for the all-out attempts to protect them.

Statistics available show that the number of fishing vessels having been operating in relatively distant high seas, and part of the waters governed by the Republic of Korea (ROC) has shrunk nine folds since an agreement between China and ROC went into effect in June 2001. These waters, nevertheless, were at one time one of Zhejiang's leading fishing grounds.

"The sea belongs to all human beings," said Vice-Minister of Agriculture Qi Jingfa. "China's signing of the international fishery agreement shows that the country is responsible for protecting global oceanic resources and promoting sustainable development of fishery."

Signs of diminishing fish appeared in the 1990s. One veteran fisherman, Lin Shengli, said previously that he could get a catch of at least 10,000 kilograms and sometimes up to 100,000 kilograms of fish with one cast back in the 1960s and 1970s. However, from the mid 1990s, he could only catch 1,000 to 1,500 kilograms in one cast and sometimes pulled in practically nothing.

The story is the same all over the South China Sea. Commonly spotted fish in the 1960s, such as yellow croaker, yellow-fin tuna and Chinese herring, are now rarely seen. Some fish have died out and experts warn more varieties of fish could possibly become extinct.

"Dozens of years of overfishing is to blame," said Chen Shengrong, a local fishery official of Xiangshan County in Zhejiang Province.

Statistics show that China drew in some 3 million tons of fish in the South Sea in 2000, one million tons more than the annual fish reproduction in the area.

This rising scarcity of fish has driven some fishermen to look for a catch as far as Marshall Islands, 4,000 sea miles away from home. This has brought disputes between nations.

"The only way out is to protect sea resources and make it sustainable," Chen Rongsheng said.

Fishermen in coastal Xiangshan County initiated a three-month long fishing ban on China's South Sea, East Sea and Yellow Sea. They have also formed a team, called Blue Volunteers, to persuade local fishermen to protect sea resources.

One veteran fishermen, Wu Guoliang, said, "We have come to recognize that to be kind to the seas is to be kind to ourselves."

Blue Volunteers, which has attracted more than 10,000 people, has become China's first non-governmental organization aiming to protect oceanic ecology.

This has caught the attention of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), bringing fishermen from such countries as Canada and Japan to Xiangshan County to offer their support in protecting the seas.

Xiao Peisheng, an official of Xiangshan County, said that they have taken strict control over the fishing volume and have helped to improve the local fishermen's income though a variety of means, including tourism.

"Chinese fishermen are real capable and creative," said Xiao.

(Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2002)