the Japanese fisheries press estimates that there are 200 

 Chinese tuna vessels fishing off Palau and Micronesia." 

 The majority of these vessels are 19GRT class wooden 

 vessels which operate in groups of five to ten vessels. 

 Operating costs for these vessels are comparatively low 

 which means that Chinese-caught tuna can be sold in 

 Japanese markets at prices which China's developed 

 Asian neighbors' (e.g. Japan, the ROK, Taiwan) tuna 

 fleets can not match. Much of the capital for Chinese 

 distant-water tuna fishing operations reportedly comes 

 from Taiwan companies. Chinese tuna vessels at 

 present do not have the deep-freezing technology of 

 their more developed East Asian competitors, but 

 Taiwan financial backing should pave the way for a 

 Chinese ultra-low temperature freezer longliner fleet in 

 the mid-1990s.' 



II. Government Promotion of Shipbuilding 



The Agricultural Bank of China issued huge loans 

 to support Chinese fisheries as part of the Seventh 

 Five-Year Economic Plan (1986-90), although it is 

 unclear whether any of these loans were earmarked for 

 building or purchasing fishery vessels. The loans 

 extended by the Bank amounted to approximately $3.9 

 billion — six times the amount spent during the Sixth 

 Five-Year Plan (1981-85). The bank will continue to 

 provide long and intermediate-term loans to the 

 fisheries industry during the current Eighth Five-Year 

 Plan period (1991-95), mainly to state and collective- 

 owned firms.'" 



The major Japanese daily newspaper, Asahi 

 Shinbun, reported in February 1993 that China will 

 begin a 3-year program to invest approximately $6.6 

 billion for the development of a large-scale distant- 

 water fishing fleet. The fleet would primarily consist 

 of trawlers that would fish in the Indian Ocean, South 

 Pacific, and the southeastern Atlantic. The Chinese 

 Government will ask foreign governments for their 

 cooperation in forming joint ventures and marketing 

 fishery products caught by Chinese fishermen. Detailed 

 information regarding the number and size of fishing 

 vessels which might be constructed under this program 

 is not available." 



III. Current Status of Shipbuilding 



China has more than 100 state-owned shipyards 

 which build fishing vessels.'- These shipyards have a 

 total labor force of approximately 50,000 and annually 

 produce approximately 100 steel trawlers, averaging 

 300 gross registered tons. These shipyards also 

 engage in vessel repairs, and aquaculture and fish 

 processing equipment construction. Extensive trawler 

 and purse seiner construction programs have been 

 initiated since the 1970s to strengthen China's coastal 

 fishing fleet, although no figures are available on the 

 extent of this build-up. '^ 



The two largest Chinese fishing vessel shipbuilders 

 are the Dalian Fishing Vessel Company and Guangzhou 

 Fishing Vessel Shipyard.'^ Both companies are capable 

 of designing and building refrigerated vessels having 

 less than 3,000GRT, and research vessels, enforcement 

 vessels, and trawlers having less than 3,200GRT. The 

 annual production of these two shipyards is 

 approximately 40 vessels. According to the CNFC, 

 some of these vessels have been exported to African 

 and South American countries. 



Another major shipyard is the Mawei Shipyard in 

 Fujian Province in south-central China. This shipyard 

 reportedly built eight trawlers and seiners worth $7 

 million for export to Peru in 1990. '^ The construction 

 of these vessels was the result of a joint venture 

 between the shipyard and a Hong Kong-based 

 development company. 



IV. Government Regulation of Fleet Sizes 



There is no information available which indicates 

 that the Chinese Government has taken any measures 

 to regulate the number of the Chinese distant-water 

 fishing vessels. 



V. Vessel Imports 



China's shipbuilding capacity has enabled it to be 

 relatively self-sufficient in its needs for fishery vessels, 

 with the important exception of the stem factory 



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