China has seen strong growth in its overseas catch in the first half of 2017, according to official statistics.
Some 2,420 long-distance vessels monitored by government caught 820,000 tons of seafood in the first six months of 2017, up 16 percent on the same period last year. In value terms, the catch rose 19 percent to CNY 7.8 billion, according to the Agriculture Ministry in Beijing.
The ministry didn’t clarify whether its figure for the long-distance fleet represents the total number of Chinese-flagged overseas vessels.
China’s government has vowed to cut vessel number by 20.2 percent under its current Five-Year Plan, which runs through 2020.
