China Puts the Fishing Grounds on 16,500 Vessels' Charts

Anyone who has kept a night watch off the Chinese coast knows the problem: dozens of fishing boats, nets you cannot see, and boats that move in ways a merchant officer does not expect. China's Ministry of Transport says it now has a fix on more than 16,500 vessels.

What it is. A special electronic chart that adds fishing information to the normal navigation chart. It shows coastal shipping routes, fishing grounds and the areas where merchant ships and fishing boats are most likely to collide. It was developed by the ministry's East China Sea Navigation Support Centre. The data includes more than 20,000 fishing-related items, 38 high-risk warning areas and 359 shipping routes. Updates come through China's official chart service.

Who has it. More than 4,500 merchant and passenger ro-ro ships and more than 12,000 fishing boats, in provinces including Shanghai, Liaoning, Shandong and Guangdong. It started on two fishing boats in December 2025.

Be clear about one thing. This is not AI. It is digital navigation used on a very large scale. We include it because it solves a real bridge problem, and because it is the kind of data any future AI collision avoidance will need. A system that does not know where the fishing grounds are cannot plan around them.

What is missing. No collision or near miss figures, before or after. No word on cost, or on whether ships must use it. China says it will propose parts of it to international organisations, so it could reach charts used by everyone.

Why the design is smart. It gives both sides the same picture. The merchant officer sees the fishing grounds, and the fishing skipper sees the shipping routes. Most collision tools only help one side.

For managers with ships trading to China: ask your chart provider whether this information is available outside Chinese systems, and brief officers on the high-risk areas before the voyage. And watch whether China publishes collision figures, because that is the number that would justify the rest of the world copying it. [Splash247]

This story is part of the Maritime AI Digest of 25 October 2026.