The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration is considering drafting rules to ban small boats at the waterways between Yangpu Bridge and Xupu Bridgeswheresthe city's landmark Bund is located.

　　According to Xu Guoyi, vice director of the administration, the ban is being studied due to increased demand for tourism on the Huangpu River, while the flow of shipping has been declining.

　　Officials said they also will expand the river traffic lanes to four from the current two, which will be divided //into// a fast lane of 20 knots per hour and a slow lane of 10 knots per hour. The present speed on the river is about 8 knots an hour.

　　The new measures are expected to clear up the chaotic trafficsgroupsand result in good traffic flow on the Huangpu River, officials explained.

　　During a crackdown last week, the administration caught 40 small boats fishing for feeds for baby eels. It also drove off 35 boats occupying navigation routes and endangering traffic flow, said Zhou Zhengbao, the administration's spokesman.

　　"Lots of small unlicensed boats, most from neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, flocked to the river this month after the baby eel fishing at Yangtze River mouth began," the spokesman said.