Calm waters: Mediating disputes on fishing rafts

FUZHOU — In the coastal village of Xipi in Fujian province, a phone call prompted villager Lai Ruide to swiftly head to the shores of Yantian Bay. There, he boarded an electric-powered sampan and navigated toward a fishing raft in the open sea.

After a three-minute ride, Lai reached a 25-square-meter makeshift chamber on the raft, furnished with a modest table and several plastic stools.

This space, resembling a typical storage area with bags of fish feed stacked in one corner, actually serves as a community mediation center.

Inside the room, two people sat anxiously, anticipating the arrival of Lai, their mediator.

They were there to address a dispute involving a fisherman whose boat had allegedly come too close to a sea bass farmer's net cages, leading to conflicting reports about a potential collision.

"The two parties were engaged in a standoff, as the incident had not led to any casualties or financial losses," Lai recounted.

The dispute was settled when he persuaded one fisherman to offer a simple apology.

Lai said that disputes like this between fishermen happen quite often.

"My job is to respect all viewpoints in disputes and offer objective and fair solutions," he said.

When asked about this unique mediation center, Lai added: "This is a place for dialogue. It doesn't need to be extravagant; it just needs to be convenient."

Community mediation is a longstanding practice in China's social governance tradition, proven to be cost-effective, efficient and accessible for promoting social harmony.

In the spirit of this tradition, a work system has been formed in China in which people's mediation, administrative mediation, industry-specific professional mediation and judicial mediation complement each other.

China has 3.18 million people's mediators, including 412,000 who do the work full time.

Setting up a mediation center on the fishing raft is a tailored solution for addressing grassroots disputes in Xipi village, according to Huang Jie, an official of Xiwei town, which administers the village.

One of Xipi's distinctive features is its large population of fishermen. The majority of people in the village make their living from seafood farming, with 325 aquaculture households living across an aquaculture territory spanning more than 300 hectares.

In October 2021, Xiwei established a marine community to better support Xipi's fishing population. A service station was set up in Yantian Bay to offer guidance on equipment maintenance and aquaculture.

Recognizing that many aquaculture households often spent extended periods at sea, sometimes residing on fishing rafts, the mediation center was launched on a centrally located fishing raft to resolve disputes among fishermen.

Yang Wang'en, a fisherman, said the locals were glad to have a place for debates and negotiations near their fish farms.

"In the past, a little quarrel might evolve into a big fight," Yang said.

What happens on the sea should be resolved on the sea, according to Huang, speaking about the role of the marine community's mediation center.

Lai, who spent over two decades as a primary school teacher in the village before joining the mediation center at the town's police station, now serves as a boat steward in the community.

"I've got some education and mediation experience under my belt, and I'm well-acquainted with all the aquaculture households. When disputes arise, they tend to seek my assistance," he said.

Last year, he achieved a milestone in his mediation career. He assisted 13 sea bass farmers in recovering 1.1 million yuan ($153,000) in overdue payments.

"At the time, the farmers had been awaiting payment for a month. They gathered in this mediation room, clamoring to confront the debtor," Lai recalled.

He managed to calm the fishermen down and later aided them in seeking assistance from legal professionals in the county. Eventually, they reclaimed their funds.

"As a community mediator, I'm delighted to help villagers voice their concerns through proper channels and contribute to the harmony in Xipi," Lai said.

Xinhua