(ECNS) -- Around 27,000 fishing boats from south China’s Hainan Province began heading out to sea Sunday after a three-and-a-half-month seasonal fishing moratorium in the South China Sea ended at noon.

At Tanmen Port in Qionghai, traditional music and dance from Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia were performed alongside Chinese intangible cultural heritage acts. Performers and local fishermen later paraded along the waterfront to see off the departing boats.

Hundreds of fishing vessels also left Wulian Fishing Port in Lingao County shortly after noon.

Meteorological authorities forecast stronger winds and waves in the South China Sea from Tuesday, with the possibility of a typhoon forming. The China Maritime Search and Rescue Center and the National Meteorological Center urged vessels, offshore facilities and personnel to take precautions.

(By Intern Yang Hongran, Zhang Dongfang)