Pingtan Marine Enterprise Expects to Significantly Increase Its Current Production Capacity

FUZHOU, China, April 9, 2018

FUZHOU, China, April 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pingtan Marine Enterprise Ltd. (Nasdaq: PME), (hereafter referred to as "Pingtan" or the "Company"), a global fishing company based in the People's Republic of China (PRC), today announced that 27 fishing vessels of the Company have received approval dated April 2, 2018 from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China and are expected to operate in the international waters of the Indian Ocean after completion of modification and rebuilding.

These vessels will first undergo the modification and rebuilding process to upgrade their fishing method in order to meet the fishing requirements of the international waters of the Indian Ocean and to expand gross tonnage. The new vessels will be put into operation in the designated fishing area after completing the modification and rebuilding process along with all related procedures.

Among the 27 fishing vessels, 7 will be modified as light luring seine fishing vessels with annual harvest capacity of 6,000 to 8,000 tons per vessel, primarily focusing on harvesting tuna, sardine, blackbody trevally, anchovy and mackerel fish products, and the other 20 vessels will be modified as squid jigging vessels with annual harvest capacity of 2,000 to 3,000 tons per vessel focusing on capturing squid products. The 27 fishing vessels are expected to significantly increase the Company's total annual harvest capacity by 80,000 to 110,000 tons. For the year 2017, the Company's annual sales volume was 17,986 tons, revenue was $63.2 million and net income was $32.5 million.

Light luring seine is a method of fishing that employs lights to lure fish into a fishing net called "seine" that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Squid jigging is a technique which uses a lead sinker with a hook molded into it to attract squid. After modification and rebuilding, the gross tonnage of the light luring seine fishing vessels and squid jigging vessels are expected to be 1140 tons and 1100 tons respectively, a significant increase in unit gross tonnage compared with the unit gross tonnage range of 192 to 480 tons before modification and rebuilding.

Management Commentary

Mr. Xinrong Zhuo, Chairman and CEO of the Company, commented: "We are honored and excited to receive approvals to operate in the international waters of the Indian Ocean. We know very well that this decision made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is a way of encouraging us to progress and it reaffirmed Pingtan's position in China's distant water fisheries. We look forward to significant improvement in both revenue and production capacity, as these rebuilt large-scaled squid jigging and light luring seine vessels will give full play to their advanced technical performance in the new bountiful and vast fishing territory, greatly expand our catch volume, enhance our product mix, and meet the increasing demand from our online and offline sales channels. "