First Centre Set Up For Fairer Fishing

The first provincial-level trading centre for fishing vessels namely the Trading and Service Center for Marine Fishing Vessels of Zhejiang Province has been set up recently.

According to the Bureau of Fisheries, the inaugural meeting and the nameplate presenting ceremony was held on 9 March in Shangyu City of Zhejiang Province. Li Jianhua, Director-General of the Bureau of Fisheries and Director-General of the Fishery Law Enforcement Command, MOA, attended the meeting and presented the nameplate to the trading centre. Li Furong, Director-General of Regional Bureau of East China Sea Fishery Management, MOA and Zhao Limin, Director-General of the Bureau of Marine and Fisheries of Zhejiang Province, were present at the meeting and delivered speeches.

In recent years, deals of trading fishing vessels have increased along with pluralistic structure of property rights coming into being. However, these deals were made in private or through individual agents due to the fact that there was no unified and standardised market for trading of this.

In such a situation, it was difficult to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of fishermen because of impeded information and non-standardised trading. It also resulted in negative impacts on vessel management, especially the implementation of double-control system and fishery production safety management.

In order to promote standardised management of fishing vessels and protect the legitimate rights and interests of fishermen, the Ministry of Agriculture made a decision in 2009 to launch a pilot project in Zhejiang Province, and entrust the Regional Bureau of East China Sea Fishery Management and the Bureau of Marine and Fisheries of Zhejiang Province to make joint preparations for establishment of the center. In March 2010, with approval by the Department of Civil Affairs of Zhejiang Province, the Fishery Mutual Assurance Association of Zhejiang Province obtained registration for the Centre.

The Centre provides the following services: giving fishermen a place for trading of fishing vessels as well as technical advice information service and assessment of pricing; and undertaking commissions for certificates, transaction settlement and dispute mediation. The Centre will also aim to develop a service-orientated, unified, standardised, fair and efficient market for trading fishing vessels in the province and adjoining areas by following the aim of serving fishermen and the principle of opening, transparence and high efficiency, strengthening institution and staff capacity building, and actively making arrangement for publicity and training.

By so doing, the Centre will contribute to standardising trading and enhancing management of fishing vessels, and safeguarding rights and interests of fishermen. At the same time, it will accumulate experience for developing standardized markets for trading fishing vessels in the country.

Present at the meeting were over 100 participants, including high-level officials from the Department of Civil Affairs of Zhejiang Province, the Bureau of Marine and Fisheries of Jiangsu Province, the Bureau of Marine and Fisheries of Zhejiang Province, the Bureau of Marine and Fisheries of Fujian Province, fishery-competent departments in the coastal areas of the province as well as representatives for fisheries and fishermen.