According to the Seafood Research Institute under the Ministry of Fisheries, the first joint fisheries exploration in the common fishing area of the Tonkin Gulf was carried out simultaneously off the coasts of Hai Phong City of Vietnam and Beihai City of China's Guangxi province on January 5.

Under the bilateral plan, the Vietnamese side will use the Vessel Eastern Sea while the Chinese side will use Beiyu 60011 to conduct the exploration. Each side may appoint two experts to work on the other's ship.

The joint exploration will last through 2007, with four voyages to a total of 35 stations in the Gulf. Then, experts of the two countries will analyse the results and submit reports to the Vietnam-China Joint Committee for Tonkin Gulf Fisheries to make specific adjustments of seafood exploitation levels in the shared fishing area.