Fishing vessels are ready for fishing trips at a port in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, Sep. 15, 2017.

China’s fishery output dropped by 7.4 percent as of this November compared to 2016, an indicator of China’s great efforts in protection of fishery resources, according to data released by China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), Xinhuanet.com reported.

China’s fishery production saw a dramatic increase from 2012 to 2016, which had a negative effect on marine ecology and sustainable utility of fishery resources.

In January 2017, the MOA implemented regulations to reduce the fishing time and the country’s fishery output to less than 10 million tons by 2020.

The number of fishing vessels in China has dropped by over 5,000, said Yu Zhenkang, deputy secretary of MOA.

In addition, China positively promotes restoration of marine ecosystems and has constructed 233 marine ranches, achieving great success in fishery resources protection.