A total of 150 sea fishing enthusiasts gathered at Zhuhai's Dong'ao Island on Dec 24 to compete in the 2022 Wanshan Islands International Fishing Open Championship.

This year's event adopted ISO (active rock) fishing, which required participants to fish on rocks or rocky beaches. Competitors from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have participated in the previous events.

Competitors line up for departure [Photo by Zeng Yao / Guanhai App]

Liang Jiahua, a competitor from Macao with more than a decade of sea fishing experience, said that ISO fishing requires a lot in fishing techniques and various factors have to be taken into consideration such as the site, tide, and water flow rate.

"The ecological environment and water quality off Dong'ao Island shores are excellent," said Chen Yunlong, another competitor from Macao. He added that the event allows him to not only catch various kinds of fish in such a beautiful environment, but also carry out exchanges with other fishing enthusiasts.

Lei Gang, general manager of the Zhuhai Wanshan Development Group, said that the Wanshan Archipelago is abundant with breams from December to March as the fish normally migrate from Australia and New Zealand to spawn in the Wanshan Archipelago during this period.

"The competition has been held for 13 sessions, and it has now become a major platform for communication and exchanges for fishing enthusiasts in Asia," stated Tang Weixi, the manager of the competition.

Tang expressed hope that the event would further develop itself and help turn Zhuhai into a sea fishing education base.

Lei put forward that the Zhuhai Wanshan Development Group will build the event into a "golden" calling card to further develop the sea fishing and tourism industries.

In addition, Hezhou's preparatory group will launch a campaign next year featuring its industrial development plan, a sea fishing information platform, a ranking system, a series of branded events, and a non-profit organization for the sea fishing industry.