The owner of a fishing boat has been fined 6,000 yuan (US$723) for damaging an underwater telecommunications cable linking the mainland to North America earlier this year, the Shanghai Oceanic Administrative Bureau announced yesterday.

The fine is the first one given out since new regulations meant to protect underwater cables went into effect in March.

Any violation of those regulations, such as fishing in banned areas, can lead to fines as high as 10,000 yuan, said Jiang Jianyao, an official with the bureau.

The fishing boat, which officials would not name, was fishing in a prohibited area on April 6 when it damaged the cable, according to authorities.

The damage cost China Netcom Corporation, owner of the broken cable, more than 60 million yuan, and the cable wasn't fully restored until the end of April.

Damage to cables is usually very hard to prove due to the complicated conditions on the sea, which means owners of underwater cables have to suffer the losses themselves.

"The regulation was established in an attempt to prevent fishing boats from intruding into non-fishing areas and breaking the cables," said Jiang.

As underwater cables make telecommunications far cheaper than using satellite transmissions, they have become a vital channel for communications. Major underwater cables connected to the country stretch more than 70,000 kilometers.

Despite the new regulations, officials say the number of cables being damaged by improper fishing is on the rise.

Several dozen such accidents take place every year leading to massive economic losses, officials said.

(Shanghai Daily July 20, 2004)