General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture: Further Strengthen Work During the National Day Period and in Autumn and Winter

As the marine summer fishing moratorium is about to come to a full end, fishery production will enter the peak operating season of autumn and winter. Autumn and winter are seasons with frequent disastrous weather such as cold waves and strong winds and a busy season for maritime shipping, and are a period of high incidence of fishing vessel safety accidents. In order to thoroughly implement the spirit of the "Urgent Notice of the Office of the Work Safety Committee of the State Council on Doing a Good Job in Preventing and Responding to Persistent and Large-Scale Disastrous Weather" (An Wei Ban Ming Dian [2014] No. 15) and the "Notice of the Work Safety Committee of the State Council on Carrying Out the Special Action Against Illegal and Violation Activities of “Six Cracks Down, Six Rectifications”" (An Wei [2014] No. 6), further strengthen fishing safety production management in autumn and winter, prevent and contain the occurrence of major and especially major accidents, and ensure the stability of the fishery safety production situation during this year's National Day period and in autumn and winter, the relevant work is hereby notified as follows.

I. Continue to organize and carry out the special action against illegal and violation activities of “Six Cracks Down, Six Rectifications”. According to the overall deployment of the State Council, the fishery system has earnestly organized and carried out the special action against illegal and violation activities of “Six Cracks Down, Six Rectifications” and achieved initial results. In the next stage, it is necessary to conscientiously sum up experience, intensify supervision, inspection and law enforcement for fishery safety production, and severely crack down on all kinds of illegal and unlawful fishery production activities, especially vessels without ship certificates, without vessel registration certificates and without fishing licenses illegally engaging in fishery production, as well as illegal acts such as using false vessel license plates, fake vessel license plates and altering fishing vessel names and numbers. It is necessary, in conjunction with the “Two Creations” and work safety inspections, to go deep into fishing ports and wharves and concentrated fishing vessel mooring points, strengthen the inspection of fishing vessels, important equipment and crew certificates and the investigation and rectification of hidden dangers, strengthen inspections of fishing port safety, fire-fighting facilities and the equipment and product quality of safety equipment on fishing vessels such as life-saving, communication, fire-fighting, signal lights and shapes, and effectively prevent and resolutely contain major and especially major water safety accidents.

II. Do a good job in preventing disastrous weather such as typhoons. This year, persistent and large-scale disastrous weather such as typhoons has increased, and in particular Super Typhoon No. 9 “Rammasun” caused major losses to fishery production. All localities should, in light of the climate characteristics of autumn and winter, redeploy, reinspect and reimplement fishery safety production work, and handle fishery safety production work during the flood season in a solid, detailed and effective manner. It is necessary to do a good job in 24-hour fishery emergency duty and leadership duty during ordinary times and the National Day holiday, proactively strengthen coordination and cooperation with departments such as meteorology, maritime affairs and water resources, pay close attention to early warning and forecasts of disastrous weather, notify fishing vessels and personnel in relevant sea areas of early warning information at the first opportunity, and ensure that all defensive measures are implemented in place. Fishery administration vessels should make preparations for sailing, and while ensuring their own safety, actively cooperate with professional search and rescue forces, organize and do a good job in the rescue of vessels in distress and self-rescue and mutual rescue of fishing vessels, and safeguard the lives and property of fishermen. At the same time, it is necessary to promptly report to our ministry and relevant departments on fishing vessels entering ports to take shelter from the wind, fishermen evacuating ashore, preparations for defensive measures and disaster conditions, and ensure smooth information flow.

III. Strengthen the safety management of fishing vessels during the National Day period and after the fishing moratorium is lifted. Strengthen the management of fishing vessels returning to port to take shelter from the wind and mooring during holidays, take effective measures to prevent accidents such as fires and collisions, and ensure that fishing vessels in port are moored safely and orderly. Urge enterprises and vessel owners to implement the main responsibility for work safety, and for behaviors such as incomplete safety equipment on fishing vessels, unqualified crew staffing and sailing beyond the navigation area or beyond the wind and wave resistance level, punish them according to regulations and strictly prohibit them from leaving port. Effectively strengthen publicity and guidance for fishermen, require them to produce according to laws and regulations, avoid risks in sensitive sea areas, pay attention to formation operations, and maintain safe distances and smooth communication. Intensify supervision of foreign-related fishery production, prevent cross-border fishing and foreign-related incidents, and maintain the order of fishery safety production. Actively cooperate with relevant departments to do a good job in emergency handling and follow-up handling of foreign-related fishery cases.

IV. Strengthen coordination and cooperation among departments to prevent and reduce the occurrence of collisions between merchant vessels and fishing vessels. As a large number of fishing vessels go to sea for operations after the end of the fishing moratorium, the order of maritime operations and navigation tends to become complex. Fishery authorities at all levels should conscientiously implement the spirit of the "Memorandum of Cooperation on Water Safety Management" of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Agriculture, strengthen cooperation with maritime departments, jointly carry out warning education for merchant vessels and fishing vessels and maritime emergency rescue drills in key fishing areas and ports, enhance the work safety concept of fishermen, especially vessel owners and captains, and improve crew members' safety awareness and self-rescue and mutual rescue capabilities. Conduct joint patrols and law enforcement inspections in waters where fishing vessel operations and merchant vessel navigation intensively cross and in waters with frequent accidents, urge vessels navigating and operating at sea to take effective preventive measures, strictly implement the duty lookout system, maintain smooth communication, and correctly use automatic identification system (AIS) equipment when fishing vessels are operating and anchoring, so as to prevent and avoid the occurrence of water safety accidents. For collisions between merchant vessels and fishing vessels occurring within the jurisdiction, actively carry out or participate in investigations, and cooperate with relevant departments to severely punish vessels that hit and run.

General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture

September 12, 2014