China's largest fishery scientific research vessel sets sail for the first time

China's largest comprehensive fishery scientific survey vessel, Lanhai (Blue Ocean) 201, recently set sail for the first time to carry out fishery resource survey tasks. After quarantine inspection by Shanghai Chongming Customs, the Lanhai 201 has departed from Shanghai Hengsha Fishing Port, according to local media reports on Wednesday.

The Lanhai 201 survey vessel is the largest investment, tonnage, and most advanced facility of its kind by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. It belongs to the East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and is a 3,000-ton fishery comprehensive scientific survey vessel. It was independently developed and designed by China and has global navigation capabilities (outside of polar ice regions).

Weighing 3,000 tons and measuring 84.5 meters in length and 15 meters in width, the vessel has a cruising power of 10,000 nautical miles and integrates advanced technologies, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

The vessel is capable of collecting and analyzing data and samples in various missions, such as fisheries resource survey and assessment, fishery ecological environment monitoring and research and tests on fishing gears and techniques.

Since it was put into service in June 2019, the Lanhai 201 survey vessel has been docked at the Shanghai Hengsha Changxing Fishing Port Terminal. This is the first time the ship has traveled into international waters to carry out fishery resource survey tasks. 

"This offshore survey mission can help integrate China's distant water fishery into the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and enhance China's voice in international fishery governance," said Tang Xiaolin, captain of the Lanhai 201, according to a report by The Paper on Wednesday.

Considering the special nature of the ship, Shanghai Chongming Customs has tailored a detailed and meticulous boarding quarantine plan to ensure that boarding quarantine is carried out promptly and issue a certificate exempting it from health control measures, guaranteeing the ship's timely departure, according to The Paper.