China Distant-Water Fishery 30th Anniversary Symposium Held, Vice Minister Yu Kangzhen Speaks

Respected Vice Premier Wang Yang, comrades and friends:

The distant-water fishery is the pioneer and pathbreaker of our country's “going global” effort. On March 10, 1985, a distant-water fishery fleet composed of 13 fishing vessels and 223 crew members of China National Fisheries Corporation set out for fishing grounds in the West African waters of the Atlantic, opening a glorious page in the history of China's distant-water fishery development.

Over the past 30 years, our country's distant-water fishery? has traveled an extraordinary path of development

The period from 1985 to 2000 was the initial and accumulation stage of the distant-water fishery. During these 15 years, China's distant-water fishery enterprises successively dispatched more than 1,700 distant-water fishing vessels abroad and into the deep seas. The operating areas expanded from several West African countries such as Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to more than 30 countries and regions in Asia and the South Pacific, and they began developing high seas fishery resources in the Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Atlantic Ocean. During these 15 years, China's distant-water fishery not only gained a firm foothold abroad and laid a solid foundation for future development, but also caught nearly 8 million tons of fish cumulatively, alleviating the shortage of high-quality aquatic product supply domestically and achieving remarkable economic and social benefits.

The period from 2001 to 2010 was the leapfrog development stage of the distant-water fishery. The greatest feature of this stage was the markedly enhanced capacity to develop high seas fishery resources. In 2001, the State Council approved the implementation of the "Overall Plan for the Development of China's Distant-Water Fishery" (2001—2010), which clearly identified the distant-water fishery as an important component of the “going global” strategy and the development of an export-oriented economy, and put forward the strategic goals, strategic priorities and safeguard measures for giving priority to the development of oceanic high seas fisheries. By 2010, the number of high seas fishing vessels had grown from 248 in 2000 to 729, and their proportion of the total number of distant-water fishing vessels had increased from 14% to 47%; high seas fishery output had grown from 130,000 tons in 2000 to 480,000 tons, and its proportion of distant-water fishery output had increased from 15% to 43%. The operating areas covered the high seas of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, and they began advancing into Antarctic waters. These 10 years were a period of thorough transformation and qualitative change for China's distant-water fishery, which leapt to become a major country in the development and utilization of high seas fishery resources.

⟦NL> The period from 2011 to the present is the stage of accelerated transformation and upgrading of the distant-water fishery. The greatest feature of this stage is that the state's policy support has been further increased and the level of distant-water fishery equipment has been significantly improved. In 2012, the state issued support policies for the renewal and upgrading of marine fishing vessels, the pace of building new distant-water fishing vessels accelerated markedly, a large number of newly built specialized distant-water fishing vessels were put into production, and the industrial scale and comprehensive strength were significantly enhanced. At the same time, the distant-water fishery management system compatible with international fishery management rules became increasingly complete, and all indicators of distant-water fishery development reached record highs. Our country began steadily advancing from a major distant-water fishery country to a strong distant-water fishery country.

Over the past 30 years, our country's distant-water fishery has achieved brilliant development accomplishments

First, the industrial scale has entered the front ranks of the world. According to statistics, in 2014 the national distant-water fishery total output and total output value reached 2.03 million tons and 18.5 billion yuan respectively, the number of operating distant-water fishing vessels reached 2,460, and total power reached 2 million kilowatts. Both the overall size of the fleet and distant-water fishery output rank among the front ranks of the world. The capacity to develop high seas fishery resources best reflects a country's comprehensive strength in distant-water fishery. At present, our country's high seas squid jigging fleet scale and squid output rank first in the world, tuna longline vessel numbers and tuna output rank among the front ranks of the world, specialized saury vessel numbers and production capacity have entered the advanced ranks of the world, and important progress has been made in the development of Antarctic krill resources.

Second, the level of equipment has been significantly improved. Since 2011, more than 1,300 specialized distant-water fishing vessels have been newly built, the problem of fleet aging in the distant-water fishery has been markedly improved, the proportion of medium and large fishing vessels has increased significantly, the overall equipment level of distant-water fishing vessels has been significantly raised, and a modernized, specialized and standardized distant-water fishing vessel fleet has begun to take shape. The design and manufacturing capacity of fishing vessels and marine equipment and facilities has been markedly enhanced. A number of ultra-low-temperature tuna longline vessels, tuna purse seine vessels and saury lift-net vessels independently designed and built by our country have successively been put into production, marking that our country's level of building large specialized distant-water fishing vessels has reached a new stage.

Third, the industrial structure has become increasingly optimized. The operating areas have expanded from several West African countries to the exclusive economic zones of 40 countries and regions as well as the high seas of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans and Antarctic waters. In 2014, the proportion of high seas fishery output reached 65%. Fishing methods have developed from single trawling operations to multiple operation types such as trawling, purse seining, gillnetting and hook gear. Business content has shifted from single fishing to integrated operations of fishing, processing and trade. More than 100 overseas representative offices and joint ventures have been established, more than 30 overseas bases have been built, and multiple domestic processing and logistics bases and trading markets have been established, with important progress made in industrial chain development.

Fourth, policies and systems have been gradually improved. Since its start in 1985, the state has provided support to the distant-water fishery in fiscal, taxation and other respects, playing an important role in optimizing the industrial structure of China's distant-water fishery, improving equipment levels and enhancing international competitiveness. At the same time, in view of the characteristics of the distant-water fishery, such as its strong professional and foreign-related nature and high operational risks, the Ministry of Agriculture formulated the "Regulations on the Management of Distant-Water Fishery," established a management system for distant-water fishery projects and enterprise qualifications, and implemented regulatory measures mainly including production status reporting, standardized fishing logs, fishing vessel position monitoring, dispatching national observers and issuing legal fishing certificates, covering the entire process of distant-water fishery production and providing strong institutional safeguards for promoting the standardized and orderly development of the distant-water fishery.