China did not fully clarify its goal of dismantling 20,000 fishing vessels as part of its response to a request for information from the European Union in the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

According to the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for national fisheries development, China would dismantle more than 20,000 domestic fishing vessels and reduce energy by more than 1.5 million kilowatts from 2016 to 2020.

Regarding the fulfillment of this goal, the Chinese government replied that the subsidy has been used to dismantle these fishing vessels from 2017 to 2018.

However, the Chinese government added, the scrapping and dismantling of small fishing boats is a relatively long and complicated process, making it impossible to obtain annual data on the number of small boats that have been scrapped and dismantled under this scheme.

Fishing vessels

According to statistics, in 2017, fish production in waters under China’s jurisdiction was 11.1242 million tonnes, a year-on-year decrease of 6.3 percent.

In 2018, fish production in waters under China’s jurisdiction was 10.4446 million tons, a decrease of 6.1% year-on-year.

At the beginning, in 2016 (the first year of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan), the Chinese government proposed a new set of ideas to innovate and develop the national fisheries structure, which in turn would be closely related to:

• Reduce the quantity landed and increase profit.
• Promote quality while increasing efficiency and sustainability, including:

• • Quality assurance of the fishing supply chain.
  • Protection of aquatic biological resources.
  • Innovation in fishing science and technology, fishing facilities and equipment, and international development.
  • Preparation of fishing risk management plans and fishing regulations.
  • According to the Fishing Permit Administration, China imposes quotas on vessels and tools for the fishing industry.

With this, the manufacture, renovation and transformation of the national small marine fishing vessels will be adjusted to the quota requirements of the province, autonomous region and cities under the jurisdiction of the central government, and will be carried out by eliminating old fishing vessels.

Also, the number of new small ships and their power will not exceed the number of small ships eliminated and their power.

That way, boat owners who still have a quota for boats and tools after removing existing sea fishing vessels can build another boat, but the total power of the main engine of the new boat will not exceed the original power.