The fishing grounds within the area of China's continental shelf cover an area of 2.8 million km². Some two-thirds of these fishing grounds are located in the South China Sea. An additional 16,000 km² of shallow water and shoals are capable of supporting marine fishing. In 1997, there were also more than 170,000 km² of inland water, distributed among lakes (75,000 km²), ponds (19,000 km²), reservoirs (23,000 km²), as well as rivers and streams (53,000 km²). Of this, 47,000 km² were already under use for aquaculture; that is about 70% of the potential cultivable area.

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