The spring harvest this year was very successful with little sign of any aftermath effects caused by the lowest water-level in 50 years as happened last year. Local fishermen are fully convinced of the effectiveness of the government's annual moratorium.

The 286,000 ha. Poyang Lake was known as a natural fishing farm with the highest fishing output, recorded in 1954, exceeding 34,200 tons.

However, excessive fishing, a shrinking water area for farmland and increasing water pollution have endangered the lake's supply of fish. The annual output was diminished to 12,700 tons at the lowest, and the fish were smaller and of worse quality.

Under the call for sustainable fishing, the country's Law of Fishing was imposed in 1986. In the same year, the provincial government of Jiangxi formally introduced a three-month long annual moratorium on 8,000 ha. of fish spawning areas on the lake, and a six-month long embargo on 1,333 ha. of the lake area every winter.

Meanwhile, the fishing industry has been rectified with strict rules concerning license management, limited fish hauling and the use of fishing outfits.

Xu Fengsong, director of the Fishery Supervision Bureau, said that this year not only is the fishing output on the rise, but also the resources, which indicate a good harvest next year.

(Xinhua 06/04/2001)