China’s demand for fresh fish during the summer prohibition on commercial fishing in its own waters became apparent over the past month in the busy port city of Ningbo, where authorities have warned that transgressors face three years in jail for flouting the fishing ban.
Since 1 June, a flotilla of 46 patrol vessels under the Ningbo Public Security Frontier Detachment Force have arrested 52 people and seized 6,500 kg of seafood destined for sale in Ningbo markets, where consumers seek out fresh seafood (freshness is traditionally associated with quality), rather than the frozen product typically on offer during the June-to-September fishing moratorium on the East China Sea.
The Ningbo crackdown highlights the enormous opportunity which China’s domestic fishery ban presents for suppliers of alternative species – varieties of croaker from south Asia and Latin America, for instance, have come to replace the prized local yellow croaker during the summer months in Chinese markets.
