Fish farmers of Tangshan City, Hebei Province, came to YSFRI on January 9, 2014, to present to us a silk banner inscribing: Maintenance of Justice, Testimony for the People. The mission of the fish farmer delegation was to express gratitude to YSFRI staff for their efforts and hard work during the past years, in protecting the fisheries industry and the benefit of the fish farmers.

Prof. LI Jian, deputy director general of YSFRI, accepted the banner on behalf of YSFRI, and The Fisheries Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Centre of Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea District, Ministry of Agriculture (FEEMC).

FEEMC is affiliated to YSFRI, and is responsible for fishery environment monitoring, investigation of pollution in fishery water bodies, impact assessment of engineering projects on fishery, and appraisal of aquaculture losses, etc. In recent years, the Centre has accomplished a number of investigation and evaluation projects for major pollution accidents that had serious environmental and social impacts, including the TASMAN SEA oil leakage and pollution accident in Bohai Sea in 2002; the oil tank explosion accident at Dalian New Port on July 16, 2010; and the Penglai 19-3 oil leakage accident in 2011. All these work have won general recognition in the industry, the community and the government, and have made wide positive social influence.

In 2013, the Centre received and accomplished more then 10 investigation projects on fishery pollution accidents, including 3 commissions made by 37 fish farmers in Laoting County and Caofeidian District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province. During these investigations, especially during the in situ examination and sampling, the Centre staff made surveys and evaluations strictly following the standard process, so that the fishery losses are appraised fairly and convincingly. Their serious attitude and professionalism have won the respect and belief of both the farmers and the representatives of the defendants. As a result, huge economic losses of the farmers have been redeemed.

The silk banner and the gratitude of the fish farmers from Hebei Province are a proof of YSFRI’s contribution to fisheries industry. Under the current situation of rapid growth of marine economy, and following the new national policy on environmental protection, YSFRI would make more efforts in fishery environmental monitoring and impact assessment, providing important service to the fisheries industry.