Boats line up at the Dongsha fishing port in Dongtou district, Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, on Sept 15, a day before the fishing ban was officially lifted. The boats were ready to set sail and hoping for a good harvest. [Photo by Ke Hongliang/66wz.com]
With the fishing moratorium in Wenzhou, a coastal city in East China's Zhejiang province, coming to an end on Sept 16, local residents are expecting to see more kinds of seafood on their dining tables at more reasonable prices.
The end of the moratorium was decided a day ago as this year's 12th typhoon Mufia has passed and clear weather has returned to Wenzhou.
Fishing vessels equipped with fishing assistance facilities such as trawling and shrimp anchorages will all bid farewell to the month-long moratorium, which came into effect in the East China Sea on May 1 and was partially lifted on Aug 1.
The first catches from the East China Sea will be sold to the market two or three days after they are caught at sea, based on previous experience.
To ensure the navigational safety of commercial fishing boats, local maritime safety and agriculture administrations have arranged for law enforcement vessels to patrol key waters and have released safety alerts to guide navigation.
Wenzhou has, since the moratorium came into force, seized 439 illegal fishing boats, imposed 297 administrative penalties, cleared 18,064 fishing nets, and confiscated 40 metric tons of illegal catches, according to local authorities.
Zhou Juan, an aquatic product merchant, is optimistic about the sales of swimming crab this year.
"Seafood populations have gradually returned to the same level as when I was a child thanks to the fishing ban promoted in recent years, though it has not yet reached the peak like when the fishing nets were bursting with crabs. Fishermen's catches have indeed improved a lot," she said.
