China's State Council Information Office (SCIO) on Tuesday released a white paper titled "Development of China's Distant-Water Fisheries."

Sustainable utilization of the ocean is essential to the survival and development of humanity. China was one of the first countries to utilize the ocean's resources. More than 4,000 years ago, people in coastal areas of China were already living off the sea and fishing, and had started exploring the ocean and utilizing its resources along with the people of other countries.

The SCIO said the white paper is intended to present a complete picture of China's philosophy, principles and policies in its Distant-Water Fisheries (DWF) sector and its success in honoring international agreements, to share with the world its experience in DWF administration, and to promote international cooperation and exchanges in this field.

China's DWF sector began in 1985. Although it started relatively late, after more than 30 years of hard work, China has made significant progress. It has signed reciprocal cooperation agreements with relevant countries and regions in Asia, Africa, South America and Oceania. In accordance with these agreements and the laws and regulations of the relevant countries, China has established orderly fisheries cooperation with more than 40 countries and regions.

According to the white paper, in order to realize scientific conservation and sustainable utilization of fisheries resources and achieve high-quality DWF development, China is committed to optimizing the industrial structure, promoting transformation and upgrading, improving quality and efficiency, strictly controlling the scale of development, strengthening standardized management and combating illegal fishing.

In the current era, international ocean governance is facing fresh challenges. At this new historical threshold, China will continue to work with the rest of the world on the basis of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit to strengthen the conservation and sustainable use of the sea and its resources and protect marine biodiversity, according to the white paper, and make further contributions to ensure success in completing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, promote a maritime community of shared future and facilitate the green and sustainable development of the sea.          

(Cover image via VCG)