A new survey by China has identified huge fishing reserves in the middle and southern regions of the disputed South China Sea, which could provide a major impetus for millions of Chinese fishermen.
The survey showed the area around the islands which China calls as Nansha and referred by Vietnam as the Spartlys has fishery reserves of about 1.8 million tonnes, with about half a million tonnes available for fishing, Yang Beisheng, deputy head of the South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences said.
More than 20 fish species in the islands' maritime area are rare or have a high economic value, according to the survey.
Mesopelagic fishery reserves in the waters around the Zhongsha and Xisha islands stand between 73 million and 172 million tonnes.
The institute has carried out eight survey trips to the resource-rich South China Sea using the country's first domestically produced advanced maritime fishery survey ship, the Nan Feng, since 2013.
China's claims of sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea are hotly contested by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
