Cracking Down on "Kill-All Nets" to Ensure the Sustainable Use of Fishery Resources
At present, driven by economic interests, various forms of "kill-all nets" are still being used in specific waters and during specific periods in some places; the use of banned fishing gear and "three-no" vessels for illegal fishing is also fairly common. In response, Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu recently said that the cleanup and rectification of "kill-all nets" and fishery-related "three-no" vessels will be carried out with an iron hand, and source management of fishing vessel repair and construction enterprises and net gear manufacturers will be strengthened.
"Kill-all nets" originally refer to fishing nets with extremely small mesh, often around one or two centimeters in diameter; such nets catch both large and small fish alike, and long-term use of this kind of fishing gear causes devastating damage to fishery resources. Over the past year, various regions have carried out campaigns to rectify "kill-all nets," achieving phased results. As of the end of March this year, various regions had investigated and dealt with nearly 30,000 fishery-related vessels (times) of various violations, and cleared away 350,000 pieces of illegal fishing gear such as "kill-all nets," effectively curbing the use of illegal fishing gear and illegal fishing activities.
According to the arrangement of the closed fishing season system, starting from April 1, the main stream, important tributaries and lakes connected to the Yangtze River basin in China fully entered the closed fishing season. It is reported that this year is the 14th year of implementing the closed fishing season system in the Yangtze River basin. During the closed fishing season, relevant departments will organize various regions to carry out large-scale aquatic organism stock enhancement and release activities, combined with strict enforcement and management during the closed fishing season, to ensure better results in stock enhancement and release and ecological maintenance, restore the aquatic ecological environment, and safeguard aquatic ecological security.
Stock enhancement and release is an important way to promote the sustainable use of fishery resources. Data show that since the "12th Five-Year Plan," central and local governments have increased investment in stock enhancement and release, with cumulative national investment of nearly 4 billion yuan, and more than 120 billion fry of various types released; stock enhancement and release activities have developed from regional and small-scale efforts into nationwide, large-scale resource conservation actions. In 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture carried out 3 major release activities jointly organized by provincial and ministerial levels, and various regions held more than 1,600 aquatic organism stock enhancement and release activities of various types; the whole country invested more than 1.08 billion yuan in stock enhancement and release, and released 34.33 billion fry of important aquatic organisms, playing a positive role in promoting the recovery of fishery resources, achieving sustainable fishery development and increasing fishermen's incomes.
Han Changfu said that while carrying out special rectification actions, it is necessary to adhere to placing equal emphasis on production and ecology and promote the sustained and healthy development of marine fisheries. It is necessary to adjust and optimize the production structure of marine fisheries and promote the standardized renovation of offshore cage aquaculture. It is necessary to further strengthen the protection of the marine fishery ecological environment, improve the fishing moratorium and closed fishing season systems, and increase efforts in the stock enhancement and release of aquatic biological resources.