A total of 31.28 million oceanic fish were released into the Beibu Bay, the northwest arm of the South China Sea, on Thursday to improve the ecology and protect aquatic resources.

The fish species include Lutjanus erythropterus, also called crimson snapper, pompano and prawn. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region together carried out the operation.

Beibu Bay has traditionally been one of China's four biggest fishing grounds. It is a major fishing place for Guangxi and neighboring Guangdong and Hainan provinces.

Guangxi has released more than 400 million fish into the Beibu Bay since 1988 to restock the fishery resources.

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2008)