PLA Navy hospital ship sets sail for 2024 charity mission

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy hospital ship "Peace Ark" set sail from a military port in Zhoushan in east China's Zhejiang Province on Sunday morning for Mission Harmony-2024.

This is the 12th overseas voyage for "Peace Ark" since its commissioning in 2008, and also the 10th Mission Harmony for the vast hospital ship.

During the mission, the ship will visit 13 countries including Seychelles, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mozambique, and South Africa, and offer free medical service to local residents, people in Chinese institutions, and overseas Chinese. It will also make port calls to France and Greece.

The maritime hospital is composed of more than 100 medical personnel, who are mainly selected from the Naval Medical University, with others from the joint logistic support force as well as the medical servicemen of the Navy under the eastern, southern and northern theater commands.

The hospital has 17 clinical departments and five auxiliary diagnostic departments, which can carry out more than 60 kinds of examination, treatment or surgery. The ship also carries a shipboard ambulance helicopter, with rapid forward emergency rescue capabilities.

"This mission is a vivid practice of the Chinese military to provide high-quality medical services to the people of relevant countries and public health products to the international community. It is of great practical significance to publicize Chinese-style modernization and the concept of peaceful development of our military, to demonstrate the open and confident image of the Chinese Navy, and to effectively test the far-sea medical support capability of the military," said Su Qinfeng, a serviceman of the Mission Harmony-2024.

This mission will be the longest voyage and the largest number of countries visited by the "Peace Ark" among the harmony missions.

The "Peace Ark" is the country's first independently designed standard ocean-going hospital ship, with a length of 178 meters, the maximum width of 24 meters, and a full load displacement of over 14,000 tons.

The cutting-edge vessel is equipped with resuscitation room, X-ray room, computerized tomography (CT) room, laboratory, blood preparation room and medical information center. It also has advanced medical facilities and a complete nursing system, with intensive care ward, serious injury ward, burn ward, general ward, isolation ward, etc.

The modern maritime hospital ship also boasts a telemedicine consultation system, and a medical equipment configuration equivalent a Grade 3A hospital, which is the highest level in the classification of hospitals in the Chinese mainland.

The "Peace Ark" has traveled more than 290,000 nautical miles and visited 45 countries and regions, providing humanitarian medical services to over 290,000 people and conducting more than 1,700 surgeries.

PLA Navy hospital ship sets sail for 2024 charity mission

Switzerland, known for its pristine lakes and rich tradition of fishing, is facing a significant challenge of plunging fish stocks that could threaten the livelihood of many in the fisheries industry.

In recent years, local fishermen have seen their catches decline drastically, with about 90 percent of the fish consumed in the country now being imported. This shift reflects broader environmental changes impacting Swiss fisheries, and the difficulties local fishermen are enduring are becoming more evident each year.

At seven in the morning, as the first light of dawn begins to break, a handful of fishermen at a dock in Geneva prepare to head out to the lake to check the nets they set the previous day. As the long nets were hauled from the water, the catch of perch was relatively small, but the fishermen were still satisfied, especially since they managed to net two large pike, which would fetch a good price.

Francois Liani, a fisherman of 30 years, said 2024 has been the worst year for fishing with the lowest amount of catch.

"I have never seen anything like this in over 30 years. That's right, 2024 is the worst year in the past 30 years," he said.

Fifty years ago, there were more than 800 professional fishermen in Switzerland. Today, that number has dropped to fewer than 90.

"There are many reasons, but one of the most important reasons is global warming -- it is one of the biggest problems. We have also new mussels that come from the Black Sea on the Eastern Europe that came about five, seven years ago. They have a large impact on the food availability for the fishes," said Maxime Prevedello, communication officer for the French-speaking region of the Swiss Fishing Federation (SFV).

As a result, the growth rate of fish has slowed significantly. In 2012, 2013, and 2014, a professional fisherman was able to catch around 1,000 tons of fish annually. Today, that number has dropped to just around 100 tons -- a mere one-tenth of what it used to be, according to Prevedello.

In the summer of 2024, Switzerland once again endured high temperatures. Native fish species such as perch, grayling, and the Alpine char, which have adapted to cold water, have been particularly affected. According to Switzerland's environmental authorities, 58 percent of the country's native fish species are now classified as endangered.

Swiss fishermen face growing struggle as local fish stocks plunge