Fishermen discharge crabs in Shenjiamen Fishing Port, Zhoushan, on Sept 19, after a good harvest. [Photo/IC]  

China's reform and opening-up policy initiated 40 years ago has brought tremendous improvement to the lives of fishermen in Zhoushan, an island city in East China's Zhejiang province. 

"Work and sleep, that's all we could do at sea before, but now we even have access to the internet," said He Fuhai, a 57-year-old fisherman in the city's Dinghai district. 

Life was difficult for the city's fishermen 40 years ago, who toiled at sea every day, even in stormy weather, only to maintain a life with just enough food and clothing. 

After the reform and opening-up, however, every household was assigned with a ship and could trade their fishing yields freely. Their lives started to improve. 

In more recent years, their fishing productivity has also improved thanks to technology advances, with the fishing nets now made by machines rather than by hand as they were before, and the ships powered by machines instead of manual labor, greatly saving the fishermen's time and energy. 

A greater benefit brought by technologies is the internet access, according to He.

Working at sea once meant no contact with family or friends for at least one week, leaving fishermen with endless loneliness and homesickness.

Though an interphone was created in 1980s for audio communications, it was not available on every ship, let alone for the ordinary fishermen. 

Fortunately, the emergence of satellite phones and GPS brought great benefits to fishermen, allowing them to make immediate contact with family and friends onshore and to keep themselves entertained with games and TV programs. 

He said that he installed an in-ship satellite communication device that would provide Wifi for the whole ship, enabling him to conduct online fishing trade, get weather information, as well as making contact with people onshore and surfing the internet. 

Currently, about 80 percent of the ships in the company that He has worked in have been equipped with the device.

Fishermen make preparations in Dinghai district, Zhoushan, on Sept 13, before setting sail to the East China Sea. [Photo/IC]

Fishermen process the newly-bought fishing net in Dinghai district, Zhoushan, on Sept 13. [Photo/IC]