The letter was also e-mailed to Koichro Matsuura, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Sharon Capeling- Alakija, general co-ordinator of the United Nations volunteer organization, and government leaders of 21 maritime countries.

Huang Genbao, Lin Yongfa and Xi Haihong, who live on the Xiangshan peninsula in the East China Sea, wrote on behalf of all Chinese fishermen: "We hope that protection of the seas (and sea life) will become a sacred mission with the increasing awareness of all humankind."

They hold that the seas were the cradle of life and are the hope of humanity's future.

Despite their hope, they said that blind and disorderly development in recent years has caused serious sea pollution, adversely affecting marine ecology and causing deterioration of marine resources.

"As fishermen, we feel profoundly that the 'ageing' process of our mother sea has been intensified," they said. "So we have given away our fishing tools that are destructive to immature fish and other young marine life, and release our catches back into the sea whenever and wherever we catch them."

The fishermen said they had appealed to the fishery administration departments in China to prolong a fishing ban and their proposal had eventually been accepted and put into effect.

The office of the Canadian prime minister has officially responded to the three fishermen's call, and said Jean Chretien appreciates their actions to protect seas and oceans.

The Xiangshan peninsula has been dubbed "China's vast fish pond" for its plentiful fish resources, and its people have a history of conservation activism.

In August 2000, local officials noted, 21 fishermen in Xiangshan founded China's first volunteer organization to better protect the seas and oceans around the world.

(China Daily August 12, 2002)