Many coastal regions in China have initiated a partial reopening of the fishing season following the entry into force of the annual summer fishing moratorium on May 1, with vessels setting sail for their first catch since the start of the moratorium.
The nationwide ban, implemented to protect marine ecology and fishery resources, covers the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and a portion of the South China Sea. It lasts from May 1 to Sept 16. The coastal region of east China's Jiangsu Province was among the areas included in this year's moratorium.
On Thursday morning, 441 fishing boats that met the requirements for the restricted reopening departed from the Lyusi Fishing Port in Qidong City of Jiangsu.
The authorized vessels primarily use gillnets, beam trawls, pots and traps, as well as light attraction nets, targeting catches such as swimming crabs, shrimp, and smaller quantities of small yellow croaker, silver pomfret and squid.
To ensure the safe and orderly departure of the fleet, the Jiangsu Maritime Authority deployed four patrol boats and seven drones to escort and monitor the vessels.
In Xiangshan County in Ningbo City of east China's Zhejiang Province, over 1,270 fishing boats that met the criteria were also allowed to set sail on Thursday for the East China Sea, marking the end of the 3-month hiatus for the Shipu Port.
The fishing boats will mostly operate in nearshore waters, and most of them can return to port in three to four days. Some smaller fishing boats can even go out to sea and come back on a same day, ensuring the supply of fresh seafood products to the market.
The primary catches are expected to include silver pomfret, yellow croaker, shrimp, crab, and mantis shrimp.
"All fishing boats starting operation on Thursday are out for crabs, large yellow croaker and hairtail. If we leave at noon, we can be back by around 18:00," said a fisherman.
The return of fishing activities has been eagerly anticipated by both the fishing community and local consumers, who can't wait to have a taste of fresh seafood after a break of three months.
"I really missed the swimming crabs, shrimp, and hairtail. I can finally have them again tonight!" said a resident in Ningbo City of Zhejiang.
Coastal regions in China resume restricted fishing season after three-month moratorium
China will firmly fight against economic hegemony, advocate justice, and stick to the right path against the sweeping tariffs by the United States, and will open ever wider to the world no matter how the international situation changes, according to a commentary of The Real Point published on Sunday.
An edited English version of the commentary is as follows:
In response to the U.S. imposition of "reciprocal tariffs" on all trading partners, China issued the Chinese Governments Position on Opposing U.S. Abuse of Tariffs on Saturday, after taking a series of countermeasures.
The thousand-word document pointed out that the United States uses tariffs as a weapon to exert extreme pressure and pursue its own selfish interests, which is a typical act of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying.
The paper also emphasized that China does not provoke trouble but is not afraid of trouble, and will continue to implement a high-level trade and investment liberalization and facilitation policy to share development opportunities and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results with countries around the world.
Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told The Real Point that this position paper demonstrates China's high sense of responsibility to uphold fairness and justice without fear of power politics, which will be conducive to the efforts of the international community to pool together resultant forces and continue promoting economic globalization.
Meanwhile, China's determination to promote high-level opening-up has boosted the courage and confidence of other countries to fight against unilateral bullying and injected certainty into a changing and turbulent world, according to Li.
There are no winners in a trade war and there is no way out for protectionism. When the U.S. complains that the whole world is taking advantage of it, it deliberately distorts a fact that the U.S. is the biggest beneficiary of the world's free trade system since the end of World War II.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations with China in 1979, the United States has long been reaping substantial profits from its economic and trade ties with the country. More than 70,000 American companies have invested and started businesses in China, and exports to China supported 930,000 jobs in the United States, which maintained a huge surplus in service trade in particular.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2023, the United States exported 46.72 billion U.S. dollars in services to China, and had a trade surplus of 26.57 billion U.S. dollars in services with China.
The Economist criticized the current U.S. trade policy for ignoring the unprecedented prosperity that globalization has brought to the United States.
The U.S. arbitrarily uses tariffs to blackmail other countries at will, attempting to sacrifice the interests of the whole world for U.S. hegemony. But any exertion of pressure and intimidation are useless to China.
This year, in the face of the continuous tariffs imposed by the United States, China has introduced a series of precise and effective measures, as one of the first countries taking countermeasures. The country's move is not only to safeguard its own sovereignty, security and development interests, but also to defend the multilateral trading system and international trade rules.
The world is not a jungle society, and everything must be fair and just. Development is a universal right of all countries in the world, not an exclusive right of a few countries.
The United States has unilaterally imposed tariffs on all its trading partners, violating the WTO's Most-Favored-Nation treatment principle and attempting to subvert the existing international economic and trade order. Its nature is to pursue "America first" and "America special" and deprive other countries of their legitimate right to development.
Over the past days, the European Union, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Canada and other countries have been criticizing the United States.
China's position paper clearly states that "international affairs should be addressed through consultation, and the future of the world should be decided by all countries", reflecting the common aspirations of the international community and China's consistent position of speaking and doing fair things.
While the United States continues to build "high walls around a small yard" and erect tariff barriers, China is constantly "opening its doors" and "building bridges and roads" to bring more opportunities to the world.
On March 28, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with representatives of the international business community in Beijing and reiterated that China is determined to promote reform and opening up, China's door will only open wider, and China's policy of welcoming foreign investment has not changed and will not change.
The China Development Forum 2025, held in Beijing from March 23 to 24, attracted more than 80 representatives of multinational companies, among which American companies made up the largest proportion, reaching about one-third.
A report released by global management consulting firm Kearney shows that in the ranking of foreign direct investment confidence in the next three years, China has jumped from 7th to 3rd, and ranked first in the special ranking of emerging markets.
At a time when the world is in turmoil and the United States is abusively imposing tariffs, China's position paper sends a strong message to the world about maintaining the multilateral trading system and promoting economic globalization.
The world wants justice, not hegemony. This is China's clear declaration and the common voice of the international community.
China opposes hegemony, upholds right path against sweeping U.S. tariffs: commentary
