The Shenjiamen Fishing Port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Tide News]

Zhoushan has been exploring new paths forward for marine ecological protection, enhancing fishermen's environmental awareness and improving waste management solutions for vessels, according to Tide News on Oct 24.

Over the past two years, Zhoushan has completed the transfer and disposal of 34,500 metric tons of ship waste and the removal of 19,800 tons of coastal debris, according to statistics from the local government.

In response, Changtu town in Daishan county has called on fishermen to bring back ocean garbage to ports. The town has formed volunteer patrols to conduct port inspections and beach clean-ups, repurposed old fishing nets into colorful garbage sorting bags and signed waste sorting agreements with boat owners.

Since 2019, Changtu town has collected nearly 70,000 used fishing batteries, 90,000 empty bottles, and 20,000 discarded crab cages, totaling over 150 tons of waste.

Addressing the issue of discarded fishing batteries, the town launched a pilot program in 2022 to replace traditional battery-powered buoy lights with solar-powered alternatives on 14 fishing vessels.

Zhoushan Hongpu Ocean Fishery Co invested over 500,000 yuan ($70,217) to develop a specialized plastic waste shredder for distant-water fishing vessels, reducing the volume of plastic waste by over 90 percent.

Zhoushan has since incentivized the installation of these shredders, resulting in 352 vessels returning over 50 tons of plastic waste from international waters last year.