Beijing, May 2 (IANS): An annual summer fishing ban began in China's major seas in the north, east, and south aimed at conserving the marine life.

The fishing ban covers the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the waters north of 12 degrees north latitude in the South China Sea, reports Xinhua news agency.

The fishing moratorium in the South China Sea is expected to end on August 16.

China has imposed the annual fishing ban in the South China Sea since 1999, as part of the country's efforts to promote sustainable marine fishery development and improve marine ecology.

For the next three days, the China Coast Guard's South China Sea branch and local authorities will patrol major fishing grounds and ports to ensure that the ban will be well observed.

After the middle term of the moratorium, they will hold three law enforcement actions in the Beibu Gulf, the Pearl River Estuary and the water border of Fujian and Guangdong provinces, in a bid to crack down on illegal fishing and protect marine resources.

The fishing ban will end on September 1 for the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea waters north of 35 degrees north latitude, while it lasts until up to September 16 according to usages of different fishing nets for the East China Sea.

According to authorities in Qingdao city in Shandong province, the ban involves 17,000 fishermen.

The city will, for the first time, hand out marine fishery resources conservation subsidies, which are some 70 million yuan ($10 million).

The agriculture and rural affairs department in Zhejiang province said that after May 8, the province would ban the sale of eight kinds of frozen or live fishes, including hairtail, yellow croaker, and pomfret.