According to Chen Jideng, dean of Xinying Township High School, as children are often left at home alone when their parents fish for long hours, underage sex is not rare.
Chen said the school has banned public displays of affection on campus, but, yet, female students like Pan, continue to drop out of school after falling pregnant.
According to Chen, many parents turn a blind eye, and some even expect their children to produce a grandchild as early as possible.
Fishermen in China are aware of the dangers of their profession, and there is a tendency for those in the community to marry and have children young to carry on their family line as a tradition in the country.
"Fishing is seen as a 'big money' job," Chen said, adding that half of the teenagers from the township's villages had left school early.
To "secure" an ideal daughter-in-law, parents are known to wait at the school gate to identify a perfect match for their sons. "If they see a girl they like, they will visit her family to talk about an engagement," said Chen.
"Others will get the best girls if we don't act fast," said one parent waiting outside the school, who only wanted to be identified as Mr. Chen. He said in the eyes of his peers, girls are considered "leftover" if she is not married by the time she is 20.
CALLS FOR GOV'T INTERVENTION
Wang Chenghui, deputy head of Diaolou Township Health Center, said labor at an early age will not only do harm to the young mothers, but also increase the risks to their babies.
Teen mothers are more likely to experience hemorrhaging and a difficult labor, he said.
Population control officials have tried to educate the locals, but to no avail.
"What can we do about it once they are already pregnant?" said an official with the county's population and family planning bureau, who asked not to be named. "All we can do is fine them."
Xinying Township in 2015 generated more than 1.2 million yuan from fines of 210 babies of these teen parents without marriage permit.
The official also noted because these youngsters lacked legal protection of their "marriage," many ended up separating before they had even come of marriage age, resulting in many single parents.
"Some find a new partner, while others just leave for the city and never come back," he said.
Liao Hui, head with Hainan Lawyers' Association, said local-level officials were to blame for the number of underage mothers, and unregistered "marriages."
He called related authorities to improve their education strategies to protect the area's young girls.
"Motherhood is too heavy a burden for such a young shoulder," he said.
