Dayang Port

Dayang Port

Lusi Town is a true port town bordering the South Yellow Sea, with the Lusi Fishing Port having become virtually integrated with the town itself. It takes just a few minutes by car from the town center to reach the fishing port area at Dayang Port on the coast. If we consider the seafood wholesale market along the fishing port waterway as the storage and commercial district of the port, then Lusi Town itself is a major component of the fishing port.

However, to truly see the sea and the fishing port, you need to drive one or two kilometers from the town out to the seawall beyond the Dayang Port sluice. As you drive along the smooth asphalt road toward the shore, you’ll see various fishing boats and transport vessels moored in the harbor basins along the way. When the colorful and uniquely shaped flags on the masts grow denser, and the sea breeze carries an increasingly strong briny scent through the car window, this distinctive scenery and smell tell you that the Lusi Fishing Port is near.

The waters before us are part of the world-renowned Lusi Fishing Grounds, stretching from the mouth of the Yangtze River in the south to Haizhou Bay in the north, covering a total area of over 30,000 square kilometers. This area boasts extremely rich fishery resources and a thriving maritime culture, earning it the nickname “the Capital of Fish.” There’s an old saying that “it yields the equivalent of a golden ox every day.” The Lusi Fishing Grounds are abundant in high-quality economic fish species such as large yellow croaker, small yellow croaker, pomfret, hairtail, barracuda, and mullet. Particularly noteworthy is the abundant resource of small yellow croaker, whose annual yield once accounted for half of the national total. Meanwhile, the mighty Yangtze River, carrying vast amounts of silt, flows eastward into the sea. Under the push of tidal forces, this sediment gradually deposits around the South Yellow Sea estuary, forming extensive sandbars and mudflats. Today, outside the shoreline of Nantong City—from Laobagang in Hai’an in the north to Yuanyang Yuantuo Cape in Qidong in the east—there stretches over 200 kilometers of coastal mudflats, covering a total area of nearly two million mu (approximately 133,000 hectares). These South Yellow Sea mudflats are hailed as the best in the East, as nowhere else in Asia can you find such continuously expanding tidal flats. Mudflats are a unique type of geomorphology found in sandy coastal areas, representing a precious geological resource where water transitions into land. Vast, seemingly boundless sandbars stretch toward the horizon. At high tide, they dissolve into a misty expanse; at low tide, they reveal expansive fertile plains. These are prime wetlands where rare delicacies like snails, shellfish, shrimp, and crabs thrive, as well as ideal spots for fishermen to cast their nets. In recent years, they’ve also become emerging bases for nori cultivation and aquaculture, as well as attractive destinations for sightseeing. The intertidal zones of the Lusi Port area and the nearby coastal mudflats are rich in shellfish, shrimp, and crab resources, producing prized seafood such as blood clams, razor clams, cockles, mantis shrimp, sea anemones, mud snails, as well as prawns and swimming crabs. The booming fishing industry has made this region a nationally renowned base for seafood production.

Standing atop the towering seawall, or climbing to the observation deck of the Wanghai Pavilion nearby, you can gaze eastward to behold the vast ocean stretching before you. On clear days, when you look into the distance, the sea and sky merge into one under the blue sky and white clouds, creating an endless, boundless expanse. Here and there, fishing boats bustle about in the distance. Closer to shore, during high tide, the area becomes a surging yellow expanse, with red-flagged fleets sailing along nearby channels out to the open sea, while seagulls dart up and down, keeping company with fishing boats at work. When the tide recedes, the area gradually reveals a vast, golden beach, where blue-green fishing nets are arrayed like sails stretching far into the distance. Groups of fishermen, carrying baskets on their backs, hurry to the shallows to catch fish and shrimp from the mudflats.