Shifting Tides: The Rise and Fall of Raft-Aquaculture

In January 2026, the regional government of Yangjiang, Guangdong passed a policy to clean upaquaculture facilities in the waters of the Dongping Fishing Port.This port  was designated to be a prohibited zone for aquaculture. The coast of Guangdong had long hosted mass aquaculture before then. Such a policy altered the lives of numerous households living in Dongping, forcing them to abandon jobs they have been practicing for the past 30 years.

Part One: The Rise of Aquaculture

On December 10, 1997, the Yangjiang Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Yangjiang Municipal Government issued the “Decision on Accelerating the Development of Marine Fisheries.” This document provided clear policy support for the development of marine fisheries, especially aquaculture, in the entire Yangjiang region, including Dongping.

On a larger scale, the Guangdong province encouraged the development of the fishing industry, requesting regions to develop lands  holistically based on the land’s conditions.

Since 2006, Yangjiang has invested nearly 100 million yuan in implementing its “Second Phase Development Strategy for Marine Fisheries,” explicitly encouraging fishermen to vigorously develop aquaculture. Simultaneously, the government has invested over 20 million yuan in technological upgrades and optimized the fisheries layout. By 2006, the area of marine aquaculture in Yangjiang had reached over 44,000 hectares.

The prosperous fishing industries of Dongping was  mainly encouraged by the regional and  provincial governments.

“There are about forty or fifty households, most of whom raise grouper and snails,” explains Yang, a fisherwoman who once farmed groupers along with her husband.

Part Two: Yang

Being first generation descendants of the Tanka People (a sect of the Han ethnicity that has lived on ships near the coasts till the Chinese Economic Reform), Yang and her husband has a family history in fishing. The couple has been raising groupers for nearly thirty years using the fishing rafts.

A modern form of aquaculture, these fishing rafts exist as drifting grids on the ocean. The grids are formed by wooden boards, and they stay afloat curtsy to empty plastic barrels. Hanging beneath the wooden frame, nylon nets form large “cages” thatallow sea water to flow but also trap fish. Thus, the currents constantly supply the fish cages with fresh and nutritious water. The fishermen farm the fish by supplying the cages with fry, then feed the fish from time to time. Simplistic sheds are also built on the rafts, with bunks andkitchensfor the fishermen to use. Efficient and low cost, such fishing rafts breed plentiful groupers and conchs on the coast of Guangdong province.

However, such a form of aquaculture faces a few challenges.

Environmental disasters are the main concern, specifically typhoons. “The typhoons were so strong it could sweep away anything. They swept the fish,” Yang said. Guangdong province experiences 5 or 6 typhoons every year, with a record of 15 in 2025. The warm waters of the nearby water regions provide the perfect condition for typhoons to be born.

The second concern is the contamination of the seawater from waste. “The water is not as clear as before; there's a bit of residue now,” Yang mentions.

Part 3: Government Policies

The above two factors have already made aquaculture challenging and have decreased the income of fishermen, but most importantly, it was the policy that changed aquaculture completely in Dongping.

As early as  2019, the Yangjiang city government had issued a plan for aquaculture area divisions for the Yangdong District. The plan put an emphasis on scientifically divided farming regions as well as authorization for aquaculture.

In late 2020, the Yangdong District People’s Procuratorate discovered  many unlicensed and unregulated farming rafts near Dongping Fishing Port. In March 2021, the procuratorate issued a procuratorial recommendation, requiring relevant departments to rectify the situation.

The need for legal authorization for aquaculture was again reemphasized in March 2021. Seeing the inaction of the fishermen, the government took decisive action to start removing illegal farming rafts. This cleanup focused on illegal fishing, illegal farming, and navigation obstacles.

Blanket ban of aquaculture in Dongping was already hinted in the plans of 2019. However, it was not enforced until January 20^th,2026. The actions in 2021 only cleared up illegal actions but did not enforce the region-wide ban in Dongping. As a result, many fishermen did not realize the urgency of the case,later viewing the cleanup as sudden news. .

Farming groupers take around 16-24 months per season and the harvest comes before the winter of the second year. The fishing rafts were forcibly removed in January, not allowing the groupers to grow to a size that is suitable for sale. The fishermen would be unable to recover the previous costs put into buying fry, fish food, repairing or building fishing rafts and more, as they cannot sell the groupers in January. Most of the fishermen borrow money to afford for such costs. The policy had left them to deal with the costs of the forced cleanup themselves, leaving no subsidy to make up for the loss.

Mass aquaculture left waste from fish food, excrement, and domestic waste floating in the ocean, which directly caused dirty water. The total amount of pollutants exceeded the ocean's self-purification capacity, channeling eutrophication. The net cages themselves also lowered the movement of the currents, further disrupting the ocean’s ability to purify itself. Deposited pollutants can cover the seabed, leading to sediment degradation and the destruction of habitats of benthic organisms such as shellfish and seagrass, which are also part of the self-purifying system.

The fishing rafts also take up space for waterways, creating traffic on the sea and increasing the possibility of collisions. When torn apart by extreme weather, the remnants of the raft may also become obstacles in the waterway, posing immense danger for ports and ships. Waterways blocked by fish rafts severely impede the passage of emergency vessels such as fire trucks and rescue ships, delaying precious rescue time.

Ending

The 2026 cleanup of the fishing rafts at Dongping Port was not an unprompted decision but  a last call for a long-term issue rooted in environmental and safety concerns. For the fishermen who had invested their livelihoods, savings, and loans into the waters, the policy arrived not as a gradual transition, but  a sudden rupture.

Writer: Lexuan Huang

Editor: April Liu