Shanghai maritime police are having a tough time protecting underwater cables near the Luchao Harbor from being damaged by an army of small boats collecting waste iron with powerful magnets.

Officers from the frontier police station in Luchao Harbor carried out a random inspection of small vessels in the area on Wednesday, the latest effort to evict iron-collecting ships over the past two months. However, the campaign has been far from an outright success.

"We rented a large fishing boat for the scout to avoid being easily recognized by the iron collectors. But it doesn't work out so much as the small boats dispersed immediately when we approached them," said Liang Hailong, a spokesman for the frontier police station.

The small ships first emerged near the harbor in April to raise pieces of iron that fell into the sea from the construction site of the Donghai Bridge, according to police.

"Iron-collecting is a rather lucrative business for the small ship owners," Liang said.

One small ship can raise up to 500 kilograms of iron a day, which is then sold to recycling centers, earing salvagers a net profit of between 200 yuan (US$24) and 1,000 yuan (US$120), officers said.

The prospect of easy profits has attracted a growing number of small vessels to the site, with more than 20 boats working in the area every day, according to police.

The ships have accidentally lifted underwater cables with magnets several times so far when searching for iron.

"Luckily, no cables have been damaged so far, but these ships have put the underwater cables near the Donghai Bridge in great danger," said one police officer.

As there are no specific laws banning ship owners from searching for scrap metal with magnets, police can only inspect the boats and fine those that are operating without a license or without permission to work in local harbors.

However, the maximum fine for such violations is only 1,000 yuan, meaning it is far too low to force ships to leave the area and give up the lucrative business.

(Shanghai Daily July 2, 2004)