Safe fishery production highlighted in national competition

With the aim to ensure safe fishery production, fishery law enforcement officers from across China gathered at Shanghai Ocean University for a national-level competition held on Wednesday and Thursday, testing their practical skills while strengthening friendships with counterparts.

Co-hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the two-day competition drew over 190 competitors in 51 teams selected from various fishery law enforcement departments across the nation. They were divided into inland and ocean teams, sharing their experience comprehensively in diverse aspects including theories, reporting, vessel inspection, speedboat handling, water survival and rescue.

Among them, 12 teams and 12 individuals were awarded for their outstanding performance. Two teams representing Jiangsu province took both crowns in the inland and ocean groups. In individual competitions, Ma Tengyuan, also from Jiangsu province, got the highest individual score out of all ocean contestants, and Liao Zhijia from Guangdong province stood at the top among all inland competitors.

Lan Guangcha, a law enforcement officer from Jiangsu province, could hardly hide his excitement on the fruitful results. Having claimed first place out of all inland team competitors last year at the previous edition of the contest, he received a promotion and came back this year as a special advisor to the Jiangsu teams.

"We saw more teams participating in the competition this year and most of them were new faces. It was very impressive to see all teams improving their comprehensive skills, and the younger teammates did a quite good job," said Lan.

He shared with China Daily that such competitions can help officials figure out their weakness, learn from each other and then carry out specific and targeted training to improve their skills, which eventually will help them better react to emergencies and rescues in real conditions.

Li Mingfeng, a team member representing Guangdong province, shared similar sentiments. He noted that the competition involves new counterparts each year to foster friendships, and its programs are well designed in accordance to their daily work and are of much practical values.

"In Shenzhen, we often face real emergencies and rescues on the sea, especially due to frequent typhoons and busy transportation of vessels. The (water survival and rescue) session of the competition realistically simulated the situation and challenging conditions we are facing on the sea, which can greatly help us gain experience and improve our abilities to deal with such emergencies," said Li.

Moreover, a service platform offering meteorological service to seagoing fishing vessels was officially launched Thursday at the closing ceremony of the competition, aiming to better safeguard fishery production at sea and promote the development of marine fisheries with digital and integrated efforts.