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China’s policies on bottom trawl fisheries over seven decades (1949–2018)
Abstract
To pursue sustainable fisheries, the world needs to constrain bottom trawling (BT) through effective management. Such change is particularly urgent for China, which operates one of the largest bottom-trawl fisheries (BTF) both in and beyond its waters. We provide the first comprehensive review of China’s approach to BTF over seven decades (1949 – 2018) based on bibliometric approaches (diversity index, network and word-cloud analyses). We collated an inventory of 103 Chinese national policies and classified them into seven categories (e.g., input/output control) over five eras: (i) E1: 1949 – 1977 (planned fishing with limited management); (ii) E2: 1978 – 1992 (regime shift with input control); (iii) E3: 1993 – 2002 (EEZ management with multiple regulations); (iv) E4: 2003 – 2012 (resource conservation with balanced measures); and (v) E5: 2013 – 2018 (fisheries transformation towards sustainability with bans ahead). We found that China has increased its concerns on BTF, with more frequent and diverse policies over time. Such changes included more limits (e.g., input and output controls) and more law enforcement. However, little was known about the effectiveness of many policies, and some well-intentioned ones (including bans) failed in implementation. We indicate that these policies have been influenced by both domestic (e.g., political will, consumption demand) and international drivers (e.g., international laws, globalization). We highlight the problems in managing China’s BTF, and challenges and suggestions in policy implementation. This review may help policy making and implementation for BTF management in China and facilitate the dialogue between China and the world in fishery policies for sustainable development.
... Vessels often capture a variety of species with differing economic values and may employ a wide range of fishing gears with low selectivity. Notably, trawlers account for nearly half of reported total catches in this country (Zhang and Vincent, 2020). Although trawling is an efficient method for catching large volumes quickly, it has adverse effects on marine life, bottom habitats, and ecosystems (Hiddink et al., 2011;Hiddink et al., 2017). ...
... Over the past 40 years, the catch contribution from the bottom-trawl fishery in China has ranged between 35.8 % and 52.8 % (Fig. 3). As one of the largest bottom-trawl fishing nations, this country has made significant contributions to limiting bottom trawling and mitigating its global impact (Zhang and Vincent, 2020). Especially since the late 1990 s, its government has increased its attention to the bottom-trawl fishery, accompanied by more frequent and stringent management measures (Shen and Heino, 2014). ...
China is the largest producer of marine capture fisheries globally. Overfishing since the 1970s has led to a decline in fishery resources in Chinese coastal waters. After China's reform and opening up, a series of management measures were implemented to alleviate marine fishing pressure and conserve the fisheries resources. We conducted a comprehensive assessment for multispecies fisheries in the South China Sea (SCS) to explore whether fisheries management has been effective in recovery of the resources. Indicators of the exploitation status of major commercial fish species were assessed using statistical catch data and survey data simultaneously. The results reveal a significant shift in bottom-trawl fishery, with its share of the total catch transitioning from an upward to a currently downward trend. The species composition of bottom-trawl fisheries has undergone substantial changes in the SCS over six decades. Stock assessment results based on catch data indicated some positive signals, with small pelagic fishes, such as herrings, anchovies, mackerel and scad recovering from overfished/ overfishing to a healthy status. However, the exploitation status of high-trophic-level fish species, such as conger pike and groupers, were still in overfished status. Assessment based on length data was less optimistic. Our uncertainty analysis showed that the catch-based model is less sensitive to parameters compared with the two length-based models considered here. We advocate for more practical and precise fisheries management in China, such as category/species-based management, further optimization and improvement of the fishing structure, development of a scientific quota-based system, ecosystem management that incorporates climate factors, and establishment of marine protected areas for fish species that are severely overfished or have high ecological value.
... Since most of its effects are felt in coastal waterways, pressure is being placed on those ecosystems [53,54]. A few countries prohibit bottom trawling because of the harm it causes to marine life [55,56]. For example, since 2013, Chinese policymakers have undertaken several steps to safeguard marine fisheries and tighten regulations on bottom trawling, such as prohibiting the authorization and production of bottom trawlers [56]. ...
... A few countries prohibit bottom trawling because of the harm it causes to marine life [55,56]. For example, since 2013, Chinese policymakers have undertaken several steps to safeguard marine fisheries and tighten regulations on bottom trawling, such as prohibiting the authorization and production of bottom trawlers [56]. Additionally, the authorities of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region also banned trawling to aid in the recovery of fishery resources and associated benthic ecosystems. ...
Using global fishery outputs from 62 countries during the period 2001–2020, this study applies the threshold panel data model of Hansen (2000) to empirically explore the nonlinear relations between the number of fishing vessels, fishers, and fishery production, with distinct overfishing stocks (overfishing) and fish caught by trawling or dredging techniques (trawling) as the threshold variables. Our findings show that the levels of fishery outputs could be increased by different combinations of primary factors, such as the number of fishing vessels and fishers. More specifically, when the number of fishing vessels and fishermen operating in countries with a high ratio of overfishing (overfishing > 4.4456) increased, their fishery outputs significantly increased as compared with countries with a low percentage of overfishing. As overfishing activities increase, they can result in significant shortages and imbalances of fishery resources, directly influencing fish biomass, biodiversity, and sustainability of fisheries, as well as making destructive fishing practices worse for marine ecosystems. Countries with a relatively high proportion of trawler net usage (trawling > 4.5516) would have significantly lower fishery outputs, as more fishing vessels are invested in them, compared with countries with a low proportion of trawling net use. This implies that trawler net usage is a non-sustainable fishing technique and harms fishery resources. The policy implications of this study indicate that taxing overfished species and implementing trawling regulations could significantly improve species richness and site-based abundance, thus helping to sustain fishery outputs.
... In addition, regarding China's fisheries, marine fisheries [9,11] have received more attention than inland fisheries [12], and capture fisheries [13,14] more than aquaculture [15,16]. Most previous research has focused on qualitative [17,18] analyses of management policies, with few studies providing quantitative insights [19]. To address these gaps, this study analyzes China's fishery inputs (effort) and outputs (production) in response to various management measures over the past 40 years, employing both qualitative and quantitative insights, and offers a comprehensive view of the effectiveness of these policies in promoting sustainable fisheries. ...
As the world’s largest producer of fish, China has faced significant challenges in developing its fisheries. Over the past four decades, China has implemented and adjusted multiple regulations and measures to reverse the decline of aquatic resources and achieve sustainable fisheries. This study analyzes the production trends and efforts during the period 1980–2019, highlighting the key features of and structural shifts in China’s fisheries. Our results reveal a significant shift in seafood production from capture to aquaculture and from offshore to inshore waters. Moreover, China’s fishery policy has transitioned from resource exploitation to ecological conservation, with aquaculture production in 2019 being nearly 38 times higher than that in 1980. However, not all the management measures have been successful; for example, the “Dual Control” policy failed to achieve its goals. Despite this, some measures that require adjustments, such as the “Aquatic Germplasm Resource Reserves” and “Nature Reserve for Aquatic Animals and Plants” policies, show promise for further improving the sustainability of China’s fisheries, particularly if the focus is on marine resources.
... Basurto et al. [49] refined variables adopted to study Benthic fisheries from 1980 to 2010 based on literature around experts' discussions. Zhang & Vincent [50] comprehensively reviewed China's approach towards bottom trawling fishing over seven decades from 1949 to 2018. He highlighted that these policies have been influenced by domestic factors such as political will and consumption demand and international drivers like international laws and globalisation. ...
Fisheries have garnered attention from researchers throughout the last several decades. This sector's contribution has been recognised globally, leading to exponential growth in the number of research studies published in this area. Among all the dimensions from which this field has been explored, a critical theme under focus has been the drivers in the fisheries domain. Therefore, this study aims to provide a wholesome view of such studies that have explored drivers in the context of fisheries using bibliometric analysis and text-mining tools. Based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach, 322 studies on the theme were extracted from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The studies extracted were analysed using VOSviewer and Orange software. The analysis uncovered the top journals and publishers in this domain and revealed the hidden patterns in the existing literature. The researchers posit that rather than judging the growth solely based on the number of citations and publications over the period, focus should be concentrated towards identifying themes that have gained immense attention from researchers over the years. The results indicate a shifting trend in recent times, centered on topics related to sustainability and climate change, among many more. The findings have important implications for researchers to make valuable contributions in this domain.
... China possesses the highest number of marine fishing vessels globally [3]. For consecutive years, China has maintained the top position in fishing production, leading to increasingly severe issues such as overfishing, the depletion of fishery resources, and disruption to the marine ecological balance [4][5][6][7][8]. ...
Measuring the distribution of the fishing effort of trawlers is of great significance for describing marine fishery activities, quantifying fishing systems in terms of marine ecological pressure, and revising the regulations of fishing. The purpose of this paper is to develop an efficient learning algorithm to detect the fishing behavior of trawlers to analyze the distribution of fishing effort. The vessel-monitoring system data of more than 4600 trawlers from September 2019 to April 2023 were used for feature extraction. According to the spatiotemporal information provided by the vessel position data, 11-dimensional features were extracted to form the feature vectors. A Slime Mould Algorithm-optimized Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (SMA-LightGBM) algorithm was proposed to classify the feature vectors to recognize fishing behavior. The presented method showed a remarkable generalization ability and high accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and Matthews correlation coefficient in the test results, with scores of 98.23%, 98.75%, 97.75%, and 0.9646, respectively. Subsequently, the trained model was used to identify the fishing behavior of trawlers belonging to the coastal provinces of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea in the sea area of 117° E~132° E, 26° N~41° N. The fishing effort was calculated and evaluated according to the fishing behavior recognition results. The mean absolute error was 0.3031 kW·h, and the coefficient of determination score was 0.9772. The thermal map of the fishing effort of the trawler was mapped, and the spatiotemporal characteristics were estimated in the region of interest from 2019 to 2023 with a spatial resolution of 18 degree × 18 degree. This method is an efficient way of analyzing the spatiotemporal characteristics of the fishing effort of trawlers. It provides a quantitative basis for the assessment of fishery resources and can inform fishing policies.
... Concerning methodology, scholars employ both qualitative and quantitative approaches for policy evolution and effectiveness analysis [40]. Policy evolution studies often utilize qualitative methods like process tracing, historical analysis, and longitudinal case studies, whereas quantitative analysis often involves policy bibliometrics, content analysis, and social network analysis to examine policy texts and relationships between policy actors [41,42]. Quantitative methods can yield more in-depth insights into policy evolution compared to qualitative methods [43]. ...
Building on the dynamic expansion of China’s cruise tourism industry, this study undertakes a profound exploration of its policy evolution and effectiveness up to 2019, just before the 2020 pandemic halted operations. Applying an all-encompassing methodology inclusive of policy bibliometrics, traditional evaluative techniques, and a vector autoregressive model, the research illuminates the journey of policy effectiveness. The research identifies a sustainable equilibrium among policy effectiveness, managerial experience, development scale, and investment. Notably, increased policy volume, more than clear objectives, drives policy effectiveness. This emphasizes the need for goal-focused policies and measure reinforcement. The importance of inter-departmental collaboration, improved departmental coordination, and diversified policies for optimal impact is highlighted.
Additionally, the research advocates for timely policy updates and comprehensive research beyond policy effectiveness. Blending theory and practice, the study enhances the cruise tourism policy literature, offering insights for stakeholders and researchers, and promoting sustainable growth in cruise tourism.
... Even though the strength of impacts of climate events on both fish stocks and their associated fisheries depends on the type of events, Peruvian experience in the management of commercial fisheries has demonstrated that adaptive fisheries management is well suited to cope with ENSO impacts [29]. Despite that Chinese government's fishery management has made some progress in the South China Sea over the past decades [46], in the context of complex future trends of climate change, there is an urgent need to establish ecosystem-based fisheries management that takes into account climate variability. ...
Improving prediction of ecological responses to climate variability requires understanding how local fish population dynamics are impacted by climate events. The present study was conducted in the Beibu Gulf of the northwestern South China Sea where the fisheries are characterized by high ecological and commercial value. We evaluated the relationship between major commercial fish population dynamics (abundance and distribution) and climate periods, using survey data from 2006–2020. The analysis using random forest and GAM models show that climate events are not the best predictors for the variations of fish abundance, because abundance of most fish stocks decreases significantly with the year, and the increasing fishing pressure over time can better explain the overall downward trend in fishery stocks. However, environmental variables that correlate significantly with interannual variation in ONI may impact fish abundance in short terms. Our research suggests that climate events leading to higher surface seawater salinity in winter favors pelagic fishes by improving habitat availability, and higher near-surface chlorophyll-α concentration during La Niña events provides better food condition for overwintering fish. In addition, there is no clear evidence that climatic events have a significant impact on gravity center of fish distribution, whereas climate change has caused most fishes to move to cooler coastal waters in the north.
... This article furthers preliminary efforts into understanding international influence on China's fisheries policies [39,52,53] by analyzing the content of critical advocacy against China's DWF industry and IUU fishing in the last decade, together with China's official DWF policy updates during the high tide of scrutiny. It assesses the extent of congruence between external actor formulations vis-à-vis China's framings of fisheries development, as well as by the extent of congruence of specific policy outcomes with key international demands. ...
This article examines the impact of international advocacy on China’s Distant Water Fisheries (DWF) policies. Content analysis demonstrates that both international advocacy documents and China’s official responses have focused on the politics and transboundary governance of DWF, with China stressing agrofood production and international advocates emphasizing DWF’s environmental consequences. Neither party has placed much emphasis on structural complexity in China’s DWF policymaking. Even so, the congruence of interests in politics and transboundary governance underscores the importance of international advocacy in influencing perception changes that necessarily precede policy change in China’s DWF governance.
... The existing literature on data-rich fisheries indicates that global fisheries have suffered from overcapacity and overfishing. Thus, decreasing overcapacity is seen as being instrumental to sustainable fisheries management (Hoff, Nielsen, and Nielsen 2021;Zhang and Vincent 2020;Cisneros-Montemayor and Sumaila 2019;Tai et al. 2019;Bell, Watson, and Ye 2017;Huang and Chuang 2010). Similarly, studies focusing on data-poor developing countries such as Dutta, Al-Abri, and Paul (2021), Karim et al. (2020), Islam and Shamsuddoha (2018), Rabby et al. (2019), Rahman et al. (2018), Islam et al. (2017), andFernandes et al. (2016) have suggested a need for more research on CU for improved management and governance systems in marine capture fisheries. ...
Globally, excess capacity and overexploitation of fisheries have become growing concerns because of the associated social, political, and economic consequences. This study estimates the degrees of capacity utilization and technical efficiency, and the factors affecting the capacity utilization of the multispecies gillnet vessels operating in the Bay of Bengal. It is based on data collected from two marine fishing areas in Bangladesh and uses data envelopment analysis and Tobit regression. Our results indicate low degrees of capacity utilization and high degrees of technical inefficiency. However, by holding production at an efficient level, unbiased capacity utilization is close to full capacity. A high degree of excess capacity exists, and more than one-third of vessels could be decommissioned. Furthermore, vessel capacity, number of trips, and trip duration
affect capacity utilization. An implication of our results is that efficient management of vessel capacity might
be helpful in controlling harvest and reducing overexploitation.
... As one of the world's largest fisheries producer, consumer, importer and exporter, China now dominates the global fishing industry with the world's largest fishing fleet and the greatest number of people employed in the fishing sector [3]. However, the extensive commercial fishing resulted in serious problems of overfishing and depletion of fishery resources in China since 1980 s [4][5][6]. ...
As one of the principal forms of output controls, implementation of a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) system has been increasingly emphasized in China’s contemporary fisheries management policy. In this study, we conducted a detailed analysis of China’s TACs policies and further explored current challenges and way forward in terms of implementation of TACs in China. China’s TAC policies can be divided into two stages with distinctive characteristics: i) policy introduction stage (during 2000–2016) and ii) policy implementation stage (during 2017–2022). Based on a summary of current management system in China’s TAC pilots combine with the actual situation of fisheries in China, we identified the following issues impeding successful implementation of TACs on a large scale, namely, insufficient legal liability for breaching of TACs; ineffective regulatory control of quota allocations and fish landings; multi-species fisheries; challenges of fisher resettlement; and fishers’ insufficient understanding of the role of TACs. Integrating solutions to these problems within the existing system of fishery management in China, corresponding safeguard measures were proposed to ensure the smooth implementation of the TACs programmes in China.
... Normally, beam trawl and double-rigged trawl are used to target cocktail shrimp due to their high catching efficiency in China (Liu and Zhong, 1988). In spite of their difference in gear components, they are both subjected to one common management regulation -a minimum mesh size (MMS) of 25 mm in the codend, leading to the wide questioning, scepticism, and criticism on the effectiveness and compliance of this MMS regulation (Cao et al., 2017;Liang and Pauly, 2017;Zhang and Vincent, 2020). The confusion might be caused by the knowledge gap of selective properties of trawl codend used for catching commercially important species like cocktail shrimp. ...
This study aims at improving fishery management by testing and comparing the size selectivity and exploitation pattern of diamond-mesh codends, with mesh sizes ranging from 25 to 54 mm, for cocktail shrimp (Trachypenaeus curvirostris) in the South China Sea (SCS). Beginning from 25 mm, the minimum mesh size regulated by the shrimp trawl fishery industry, we investigated how the mesh sizes of the codends would affect the size selectivity and exploitation pattern in reference to the minimum conservation reference size (MCRS, 7.0 cm total length) of cocktail shrimp in the SCS. According to our results, the selective properties of the codend mesh sized at 25 mm in line with the regulation failed to protect the undersized individuals of cocktail shrimp because of its 50% retention length of 5.85 cm (confidence interval, CI: 5.16–6.18 cm), far less than the MCRS of cocktail shrimp. As the retention probability of a shrimp with a MCRS length was as high as 97.45 % (CI: 86.86–100.00%), more than 40% of the undersized shrimp was retained. It was proved that increasing the codend mesh size did not significantly improve the size selectivity and exploitation pattern which might be improved by other gear modifications.
... In need of an updated analysis, the FAO calls for more robust and transparent estimates, with two critical suggestions provided to member States: (1) Efforts are more likely to be usefully focused on generating estimates at sub-national, national or regional levels; and (2) Indicators to monitor progress could be reflected by the numbers of vessels on RFMOs' IUU fishing vessel lists and A WIDESPREAD AWAKENING TO ILLEGAL, UNREPORTED, AND UNREGULATED FISHING INSIDE AND OUTSIDE CHINA China's involvement in and level of due diligence to IUU supplies were not well documented until the last 10 years, building upon a growing mixture of publicly available (e.g., governmental, institutional websites, and publications), independently collected (e.g., expert surveys and interview-based fieldwork) and technically generated (e.g., Vessel Monitoring System/VMS, Automatic Identification System/AIS, and related satellite inputs) sources of materials. Although IUU fishing has troubled China's marine fisheries management as early as the 1950s, it is only from 2006 that China's law enforcement authorities began to seriously combat domestic IUU fishing through the "Special Law-Enforcement Campaigns for Marine Fisheries during the Summer Moratorium" (Zhang and Vincent, 2020). Such effort was further supported by China's Supreme Court which started launching criminal suits specifically against IUU fishing in 2016. ...
As the world’s leading fish producer, exporter and consumer State, China must act decisively to eradicate national and international commerce in wild-capture species derived from illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. In 2019 China launched an overhaul of its 1986 Fisheries Law with a draft statute subject to the deliberation of the National People’s Congress. In this policy brief, we argue that China should not miss the opportunity but proactively align with the global paradigm shift toward responsible and sustainable fisheries management. To amend the patchy legal framework and implement the rule of law ahead, we suggest technology-enabled traceability and market-responsive solutions to help the country mitigate illicit capturing, processing, and transaction events infiltrating from bait to plate.
In order to improve the size selectivity and exploitation pattern for cocktail shrimp (Trachypenaeus curvirostris) in shrimp trawl fishery of the South China Sea (SCS), selective properties of four codends were tested and compared. These experimental codends involved two mesh sizes, 30 and 35 mm, and two mesh shapes, diamond-mesh (T0) and diamond-mesh turned by 90 degree (T90), respectively. Our results demonstrated that increasing the mesh sizes in T0 codends or/and applying T90 codends would improve the selective properties for cocktail shrimp in the SCS. By comparing selectivity parameters, delta selectivity and exploitation pattern indicators, the T90 codend with 35-mm mesh size (T90_35) presented the best selective properties for cocktail shrimp in the studied areas. It will be a potential choice to substitute the currently legal codend in fisheries management to mitigate the bycatch of undersized cocktail shrimp in shrimp trawl fisheries of the SCS.
Marine net primary productivity (NPP) plays an important role in regulating marine ecosystem processes, determining marine carbon sinks and maintaining marine productivity. Analyzing the characteristics and mechanisms of the interaction between overexploitation of fishery resources and the transformation of marine NPP is essential to balance marine ecosystem health and fishing activities. This study spatially overlaps the abrupt shifts of human-induced marine net primary productivity detected by breaks for additive season and trend (BFAST) algorithm with fishing activities and investigates the impact of human activities on the marine ecosystem. The results show that 47.60% of the marine areas in China’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) had detected human-induced NPP turning points (TPs), with 43.65% of the TPs showing a negative reversal (NR) trend. The NR trend occurs in areas with high fishing intensity. High-intensity fishing activities and vulnerability to productivity and NPP TPs in the Bohai and Yellow Sea areas in China’s EEZ exacerbate spatial disparity in fishing effort and product availability. By detecting the abrupt shifts and change characteristics of marine NPP, and spatial disparity overlapping with fishing activities, this study provides some area-based sustainable solutions to support ecosystem-based fisheries management.
Distant water fishing occurs worldwide as foreign fleets fish in the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of other states. We test the hypothesis that host state governance performance is an explanatory factor in observed distant water fishing effort using Global Fishing Watch’s fishing effort data obtained from vessels’ automatic identification system (AIS). We examine the explanatory power of the World Governance Indicators (WGI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, and biophysical fisheries productivity indicators (temperature, oxygen, salinity, nutrients, and primary productivity) on fishing effort from foreign fleets across the four most common gear types (fixed gear, longliners, trawlers, and tuna purse seiners). Our models include both host EEZ fishery productivity indicators and governance indicators with R² values of 0.97 for longlining, 0.95 trawling, 0.95 for fixed gear and 0.82 for tuna purse seiners. Although a lack of good governance may enable illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has enabled the legal establishment of foreign fishing contracts. However, it is unlikely that fishing contracts are decoupled from economic and political negotiations on other issues. We argue that it is worthwhile to consider the term “fish grabbing”, meaning wealthier and politically more powerful states consciously seek to profit from fishing in the waters of often weaker states through developing legal fishing contracts.
A report by leading fisheries experts shares novel analysis on the scale, context, and impacts of the age-old fishing practice of bottom trawling. The report shares new data and analysis combined with policy recommendations to inspire constructive action around this controversial practice.
Fishery fuel subsidies reduce the cost of fishery production, promote the continuous expansion of the fishing vessel scale and fishing intensity, lead to overfishing, and eventually result in the deterioration of fishery resources. Based on survey data from Rongcheng, Xiangshan and Beihai, China, in 2018 and 2019, this paper analyzes the cost-benefit, break-even and sensitivity of bottom trawlers to explore the impact of fuel subsidies on bottom trawl fishery operations in China. The results show that the fuel expenditure is the biggest production cost of bottom trawl fishery. The fishery fuel subsidies are crucial to most bottom trawling economies. With fuel subsidies, the break-even operation ratios of bottom trawlers in all three fishing areas are below 100%, and trawler operations are profitable. Without fuel subsidies, only Xiangshan’s trawler operation is in a safe range and can continue to operate. The results of the sensitivity analysis show that the catch price and the fuel cost are the top two sensitivity indexes and the two most important determinants of net profit in the bottom trawl fishery operation. Without fuel subsidies a large number of bottom trawlers will withdraw from fishing and decrease fishing effort, thereby reduce the current threat to fish stocks.
Illegal fishing may trigger structural disruption of the food chain and even damage the entire marine ecosystem. This paper proposes a new method for quantifying the value of eco-environment damage caused by illegal fishing; as an example, we used an illegal fishing case of anchovies in the vicinity of the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve. Based on the data from the field investigation and literature, we estimated the number and age distribution of illegally harvested anchovies. Additionally, the potential number of the offspring was calculated according to the potential number and survival rate of anchovy eggs. Due to the unavailability of commercial anchovy fries, “alternative stock enhancement” was recommended to restore the damaged eco-environment. Notably, the alternative species should have similar economic value, status in the food chain, and living areas to anchovies. Eventually, we selected Liza haematocheilus as the alternative species and calculated the total eco-environment recovery cost.
Having depleted fish stocks in domestic waters, the fleets of many industrialised countries are now travelling further afield to meet the rising demand for seafood. Much of this distant-water fishing (DWF) takes place in the territorial waters of low-income countries. As well as competing against the interests of local people, DWF in low-income countries is often associated with unsustainable levels of extraction, and with illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.China’s DWF fleet is the largest in the world, and so is thought to have significant effects on the environment and socioeconomic impacts in developing countries. Although China’s DWF fleet is known to be large, there is little information available about its actual size and the scale of its operations. For instance, recent assessments have produced estimates ranging between 1,600 and 3,400 vessels. In addition, it is unclear whether the Government of China has a comprehensive overview of China’s DWF fleet; vessel ownership is highly fragmented among many small companies and the fleet includes vessels registered in other jurisdictions. With information from the Krakken®database (FishSpektrum, 2018) and automatic identification system (AIS) data for 2017 and 2018, we investigated the size and operations of China’s DWF fleet using big data analytic techniques, ensemble algorithms and geographic information systems (GISs).
China is the world’s biggest fishing nation and a major player in the global seafood trade. Its fisheries development can decisively influence the global seafood trade, food security and marine conservation. In recent years, significant changes have taken place in China’s fisheries management priorities, policies and regulations. In this paper, we review the evolving fisheries management practices in China to delineate changes in the management policies, methods and their performances from 1949 to 2019. We determined that the following issues impede the development, implementation and enforcement of fisheries policies and regulations, namely the large size of the fishing fleet, large and poorly organized fisheries population, the “hidden” fishing capacity, uniform management approaches that sometimes fail to account for local conditions, lack of clearly defined and allocated fishing rights, limited data quality and availability, insufficient fisheries monitoring programmes, absence of a robust scientific input framework and insufficient stakeholder involvement. Combining those problems with China’s current management initiatives, we propose recommendations for China’s future fisheries reforms. We hope this paper can inform China’s marine fisheries policies and provide valuable references for further researches related to China’s sustainable fisheries management.
Based on growth and related fishery parameters, three approaches, yield-per-recruit (Y/R), utility-per-recruit (U/R) analyses, and relative biomass (B/B0) analyses were applied to 21 economically important, trawl-caught species in China's coastal seas to estimate their relative yield, economic value and biomass under different schedules of fishing mortality and mean length at first capture. The results show that all species suffer from overfishing, given the high average fishing mortality (F ~ 1 year⁻¹) and small mesh size (~1 cm) used by trawlers. Long-term Y/R would double and U/R (expressed as price per landed weight) would increase 5-fold if mesh size were increased to about 10 cm. Comparing Y/R and U/R showed that the benefits of higher prices for larger individuals were detectable only if larger mesh sizes are used, so that individuals are caught only after they have been able to grow. The Y/R analyses also allowed estimating the biomass of the 21 assessed populations relative to their unexploited biomass, i.e., B/B0. Species-specific B/B0 values ranged from 0.01 to 0.58, with a mean of 0.16 (±0.03), i.e., much lower than the 50% reduction corresponding to Maximum Sustainable Yield (i.e., B/BMSY = 1, or B/B0 = 0.5). This confirms the many authors who reported systematic overfishing along China's coastlines, and suggests that rebuilding stocks should be the foremost goal of fisheries management in China.
China is the world's largest capture fisheries and aquaculture producer. Over recent decades, China's domestic marine catch composition has changed markedly, from large volumes of a few high‐valued food species to multiple, small, low‐valued, species, a significant proportion of which is primarily used as animal, especially fish, feed. Despite the growing volume and economic importance of the feed catches, their species composition, catch volumes and socio‐environmental impacts are all poorly understood. Based on a nationwide survey of >800 fishing vessels, and the identification and measurement of >12,000 fish and invertebrate individuals, the present study provides an overview of the feed component of China's domestic marine catch, by volumes, species and sizes, and found it to be substantial and biologically unsustainable. Half of the trawler catch (3 million metric tons, mmt), or 35% of the total catch (4.6 mmt) in China's exclusive economic zone, are now comprised of low‐valued “feed‐grade fish”. The present study identified 218 fish species, 50 crustaceans and five cephalopods, and of these, 102 fish species were food species with 89% individuals in their juvenile size ranges. Feed‐grade fish were mainly used as aquaculture feed directly, or indirectly, through the feed industry after reduction to fishmeal and fish oil. The unparalleled scale and poor fisheries resource condition of China's domestic marine fisheries, in parallel with severe overfishing of juveniles, creates a demand for fundamental changes to fishery management practices, including a significant reduction of fishing effort to ensure productivity and ecosystem resilience.
Management of capture fisheries has been a perpetual problem facing all fisheries countries worldwide. This study first analyzes the features of China's capture fisheries, and points out that its management tends to be more complex and difficult than any other country in the world. It goes on to describe the history of China's fisheries management and the development process of China's fisheries policies, recognizing the role of fisheries policies in guiding and promoting industrial production during the whole development process. With Fisheries Law of the People's Republic of China as the basic framework, China is thought to have initially formed a fisheries management system with a complete structure and powerful measures for constant improvement and reinforcement. Major systems and measures of China's fisheries management are summarized, with their corresponding effects being evaluated to a certain extent. China's continuous introduction of advanced fisheries management philosophies over the past decades, especially since the reform and opening up, plays an active role in securing the prosperity of the following five industries: aquaculture, capture fisheries, processing and logistics, enhancement, and recreational fisheries; more effort has been put into fisheries ecological environment restoration; and law-based governance capacity in fisheries has been significantly improved. However, due to the characteristics of China's fisheries, as well as the complex and uncertain nature of fisheries itself, certain prominent problems still remain in its capture fisheries. With reference to relevant fisheries development planning, the study concludes with a prospect that China's capture fisheries management will be steered towards the total catch control of fisheries resources and the intensification of resource conservation and ecological restoration. Keywords: Capture fisheries, Fisheries management, China, Practices, Prospect
Central environmental protection inspections have completed their goal of full coverage of 31 provinces in China, and more than 17,000 officials have been held accountable. The media has evaluated the effectiveness of central environmental protection inspections using the notions of “instant results” and the “miracle drug of environmental governance.” Can this approach effectively promote local environmental governance? This paper takes the treatment effect of central environmental protection inspections on air pollution as an example. Using the method of regression discontinuity, central environmental protection inspections are found to have a positive effect on the air quality index (AQI), but this effect is only short term and unsustainable. Additionally, there are inter-provincial differences. Judging from the research results on sub-contaminants, the treatment effect of central environmental protection inspections on air pollution is mainly reflected in PM10, PM2.5 and CO. Under the current situation in which PM10 and PM2.5 are the main assessment indexes, this phenomenon indicates that due to the political achievements and promotion of local officials and for reasons of accountability, it is more effective for the central government to conduct specific environmental assessments through local governments than to conduct central environmental protection inspections.
A Third Assessment of Global Marine Fisheries Discards
Significance
We conducted a systematic, high-resolution analysis of bottom trawl fishing footprints for 24 regions on continental shelves and slopes of five continents and New Zealand. The proportion of seabed trawled varied >200-fold among regions (from 0.4 to 80.7% of area to a depth of 1,000 m). Within 18 regions, more than two-thirds of seabed area remained untrawled during study periods of 2–6 years. Relationships between metrics of total trawling activity and footprint were strong and positive, providing a method to estimate trawling footprints for regions where high-resolution data are not available. Trawling footprints were generally smaller in regions where fisheries met targets for exploitation rates, implying collateral environmental benefits of effective fisheries management.
In recent years, some Chinese elites have started to rethink the strategies and tactics of China's rise on the global stage. Some scholars see the problems in the West as strategic opportunities for China. However, others worry that Beijing might have taken steps too bold and too soon. This article aims to provide an updated analysis of the Chinese scholarly debate of strategic overstretch. Similar to the economics of cost–benefit analysis, strategic overstretch occurs if the cost of maintaining the existing system exceeds the benefits. Most Chinese scholars agree that China's policy community should pay more attention to the topic of strategic overstretch, while they disagree on the extent to which China already has such a problem. Designing and implementing a prudent grand strategy is an enduring challenge for Great Powers and Chinese scholars have taken different positions on the goals, means and time horizon of China's grand strategy. While we cannot claim that the Chinese scholarly debate has fundamentally changed China's foreign policy, there is a clear correlation between the emergence of a cautious voice in the academic world and the moderation of Chinese foreign policy—even as China continues to implement an ambitious foreign policy in a new era.
In the space of a few years, China’s global image with regard to environmental matters has significantly improved. Particularly since Xi Jinping’s coming-to-power in 2012 China’s reputation in the global climate change regime has improved markedly and it has gained accolades for a new determination to reverse environmental degradation at home. China’s incipient green transformation is partly due to a new actor constellation in environmental governance, a striking feature of which is the prominence of ad hoc campaigns that offer quick results but that may undermine the creation of law-based enforcement mechanisms in the long term. Another development – China’s increasing use of emerging technologies and big data analytics – has given rise to new forms of government-business alliances. These new players and innovative approaches have injected momentum into China’s environmental governance system and suggest that, contrary to conventional wisdom, authoritarian regimes can be responsive to citizen demands under certain circumstances. Yet it remains to be seen whether long-term environmental goals can be met, due to a pervasive lack of accountability, the weakening of civil society and heavy constraints on public participation.
This study investigates the adoption and implementation of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). The researchers selected 25 top multinational companies and studied the adoption of UN SDGs through its vision and mission statements. Using the content analysis method, this study reveals that although companies in BRICS countries have been trying to adopt defined UN SDGs, important goals are missing. Chinese companies stand first while focusing on sustainable industry innovation and infrastructure, and South African companies' interest in adopting UN SDGs appears to be very low. Overall, the results depict that important UN SDGs-'Quality Education', 'Climate Action', and 'Life Below Water'-are missing from the vision and mission statements of companies in BRICS countries. It is recommended that BRICS countries pay more attention to the UNdefined sustainable development goals. This study is unique in that it provides an analytical method to evaluate the implementation of the sustainable development goals in BRICS countries. Future studies should include more countries, in order to study a broader implementation of the goals.
More than half the fish in the sea
As the human population has grown in recent decades, our dependence on ocean-supplied protein has rapidly increased. Kroodsma et al. took advantage of the automatic identification system installed on all industrial fishing vessels to map and quantify fishing efforts across the world (see the Perspective by Poloczanska). More than half of the world's oceans are subject to industrial-scale harvest, spanning an area four times that covered by terrestrial agriculture. Furthermore, fishing efforts seem not to depend on economic or environmental drivers, but rather social and political schedules. Thus, more active measures will likely be needed to ensure sustainable use of ocean resources.
Science , this issue p. 904 ; see also p. 864
Bottom trawling is the most widespread human activity affecting seabed habitats. Here, we collate all available data for experimental and comparative studies of trawling impacts on whole communities of seabed macroinvertebrates on sedimentary habitats and develop widely applicable methods to estimate depletion and recovery rates of biota after trawling. Depletion of biota and trawl penetration into the seabed are highly correlated. Otter trawls caused the least depletion, removing 6% of biota per pass and penetrating the seabed on average down to 2.4 cm, whereas hydraulic dredges caused the most depletion, removing 41% of biota and penetrating the seabed on average 16.1 cm. Median recovery times posttrawling (from 50 to 95% of unimpacted biomass) ranged between 1.9 and 6.4 y. By accounting for the effects of penetration depth, environmental variation, and uncertainty, the models explained much of the variability of depletion and recovery estimates from single studies. Coupled with
large-scale, high-resolution maps of trawling frequency and habitat, our estimates of depletion and recovery rates enable the assessment of trawling impacts on unprecedented spatial scales.
This paper first examines two most significant structural shifts in China's marine fishery sector in the past decades, namely, expanding outward and going after high market value species. It then explains how domestic policies and development strategies have shaped the trajectory of China's marine fishery sector, and analyzes the obstacles rooted in both domestic socio-political settings and global governance that have impeded policy reform and effective enforcement in China to ensure marine sustainability and international cooperation. Lastly, the paper explores possible options for transnational advocacy actors that are concerned with the global impact of China's growing fisheries.
China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, launched in March 2016, provides a sound policy platform for the protection of marine ecosystems and the restoration of capture fisheries within China’s exclusive economic zone. What distinguishes China among many other countries striving for marine fisheries reform is its size—accounting for almost one-fifth of global catch volume—and the unique cultural context of its economic and resource management. In this paper, we trace the history of Chinese government priorities, policies, and outcomes related to marine fisheries since the 1978 Economic Reform, and examine how the current leadership’s agenda for “ecological civilization” could successfully transform marine resource management in the coming years. We show how China, like many other countries, has experienced a decline in the average trophic level of its capture fisheries during the past few decades, and how its policy design, implementation, and enforcement have influenced the status of its wild fish stocks. To reverse the trend in declining fish stocks, the government is introducing a series of new programs for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, with greater traceability and accountability in marine resource management and area controls on coastal development. As impressive as these new plans are on paper, we conclude that serious institutional reforms will be needed to achieve a true paradigm shift in marine fisheries management in China. In particular, we recommend new institutions for science-based fisheries management, secure fishing access, policy consistency across provinces, educational programs for fisheries managers, and increasing public access to scientific data.
Mapping trawling pressure on the benthic habitats is needed as background to support an ecosystem approach to fisheries management. The extent and intensity of bottom trawling on the European continental shelf (0–1000 m) was analysed from logbook statistics and vessel monitoring system data for 2010–2012 at a grid cell resolution of 1 x� 1 min longitude and latitude. Trawling intensity profiles with seabed impact
at the surface and subsurface level are presented for 14 management areas in the North-east Atlantic, Baltic Sea and Mediterranean Sea. The footprint of the management areas ranged between 53–99% and 6–94% for the depth zone from 0 to 200 m (Shallow) and from 201 to 1000 m (Deep), respectively. The footprint was estimated as the total area of all grid cells that were trawled fully or partially. Excluding theuntrawled proportions reduced the footprint estimates to 28–85% and 2–77%. Largest footprints per unit landings were observed off Portugal and in the Mediterranean Sea. Mean trawling intensity ranged between 0.5 and 8.5 times per year, but was less in the Deep zone with a maximum intensity of 6.4. Highest intensities were recorded in the Skagerrak-Kattegat, Iberian Portuguese area, Tyrrhenian Sea and Adriatic Sea. Bottom trawling was highly aggregated. For the Shallow zone the seabed area where 90% of the effort occurred comprised between
17% and 63% (median 36%) of the management area. Footprints were high over a broad range of soft sediment habitats. Using the longevity distribution of the untrawled infaunal community, the seabed integrity was estimated as the proportion of the biomass of benthic taxa where the trawling interval at the subsurface level exceeds their life span. Seabed integrity was low (<0.1) in large parts of the European continental
shelfs, although smaller pockets of seabed with higher integrity values occur. The methods developed here integrate official fishing effort statistics and industry-based gear information to provide high-resolution pressure maps and indicators, which greatly improve the basis for assessing and managing benthic pressure from bottom trawling. Further they provide quantitative estimates of trawling impact on a continuous
scale by which managers can steer.
Scientific workflows organize the assembly of specialized software into an overall data flow and are particularly well suited for multi-step analyses using different types of software tools. They are also favorable in terms of reusability, as previously designed workflows could be made publicly available through the myExperiment community and then used in other workflows. We here illustrate how scientific workflows and the Taverna workbench in particular can be used in bibliometrics. We discuss the specific capabilities of Taverna that makes this software a powerful tool in this field, such as automated data import via Web services, data extraction from XML by XPaths, and statistical analysis and visualization with R. The support of the latter is particularly relevant, as it allows integration of a number of recently developed R packages specifically for bibliometrics. Examples are used to illustrate the possibilities of Taverna in the fields of bibliometrics and scientometrics.
The rise into global prominence and rapid growth of finfish and crustacean aquaculture has been due, in part, to the availability and on-farm provision of feed inputs within the major producing countries. More than 46 percent of the total global aquaculture production in 2008 was dependent upon the supply of external feed inputs. For the aquaculture sector to maintain its current average growth rate of 8 to 10 percent per year to 2025, the supply of nutrient and feed inputs will have to grow at a similar rate. This had been readily attainable when the industry was young. It may not be the case anymore as the sector has grown into a major consumer of and competitor for feed resources. This paper reviews the dietary feeding practices employed for the production of the major cultured fed species, the total global production and market availability of the major feed ingredient sources used and the major constraints to feed ingredient usage, and recommends approaches to feed ingredient selection and usage for the major species of cultivated fish and crustacean. Emphasis is placed on the need for major producing countries to maximize the use of locally available feed-grade ingredient sources, and, in particular, to select and use those nutritionally sound and safe feed ingredient sources whose production and growth can keep pace with the 8 to 10 percent annual average annual growth of the fed finfish and crustacean aquaculture sector.
Effective policy implementation is a core component of the Chinese political system’s adaptability and stability. A thorough investigation of local implementation mechanisms, however, is often hindered by an almost exclusive concentration on implementation efficiency. This article introduces a new analytical framework and suggests focusing on the interactions between the different administrative tiers—counties, townships, and villages—to understand local policy implementation in terms of procedural and outcome effectiveness. It argues that the triangle of central policy design, institutional constraints, and strategic agency of local implementers explains cases of effective policy implementation that can be observed throughout China. By way of studying the “Building of a New Socialist Countryside” in four cases, this article shows how effective policy implementation can be the result of what students of local governance have so far rather treated as obstructive factors, namely performance and cadre evaluation, financial scarcity, limited public participation, and the focus on models.
China is the world's largest producer, consumer, processor, and exporter of finfish and shellfish (defined here as “fish”), and its fish imports are steadily rising (1–3). China produces more than one-third of the global fish supply, largely from its ever-expanding aquaculture sector, as most of its domestic fisheries are overexploited (3–6). Aquaculture accounts for ∼72% of its reported domestic fish production, and China alone contributes >60% of global aquaculture volume and roughly half of global aquaculture value (1, 3).
Despite their value, coastal ecosystems are globally threatened by anthropogenic impacts, yet how these impacts are driven by economic development is not well understood. We compiled a multifaceted dataset to quantify coastal trends and examine the role of economic growth in China's coastal degradation since the 1950s. Although China's coastal population growth did not change following the 1978 economic reforms, its coastal economy increased by orders of magnitude. All 15 coastal human impacts examined increased over time, especially after the reforms. Econometric analysis revealed positive relationships between most impacts and GDP across temporal and spatial scales, often lacking dropping thresholds. These relationships generally held when influences of population growth were addressed by analyzing per capita impacts, and when population density was included as explanatory variables. Historical trends in physical and biotic indicators showed that China's coastal ecosystems changed little or slowly between the 1950s and 1978, but have degraded at accelerated rates since 1978. Thus economic growth has been the cause of accelerating human damage to China's coastal ecosystems. China's GDP per capita remains very low. Without strict conservation efforts, continuing economic growth will further degrade China's coastal ecosystems.
Understanding the social drivers of increased seafood consumption in China, such as consumer perspectives in banquets, will be crucial if practical strategies to introduce sustainability into this market are to be successfully implemented. Based on 34 semi‑structured interviews with key informants including seafood restaurant operators, seafood consumers and seafood traders, this study investigated seafood consumer attitudes and behaviours in Beijing seafood restaurants. The results and discussion is divided into sections that address the popularity and reasons behind the popularity of: 1) seafood banquets in general; 2) fish at banquets; 3) other forms of seafood at banquets; and 4) preferred characteristics and qualities of seafood at banquets. The consumption of certain types of seafood such as live reef fish and sea cucumber is becoming increasingly popular, while the consumption of shark fin is decreasing in popularity. Awareness and concern about sustainability and traceability issues were relatively low, and more significant themes for understanding consumer preferences about seafood include social status and prestige, food safety and quality, and health and nutrition. The paper concludes by demonstrating the implications for market‑based interventions and government regulation.
Small‐scale fisheries contribute substantially to the sustainability of coastal communities by providing livelihood and economic opportunities and ensuring food security. However, their geographic range of operation overlaps with that of industrial fisheries, increasing the resource competition, risk of vessel collision and inter‐sector conflicts, while jeopardizing the sustainability of fish stocks. When industrial vessels venture into waters that are reserved to artisanal fisheries, their operations become illegal. In Africa, the extent of such operations, beyond their legal implications, has resulted in severe economic, food security and maritime safety issues. In this paper, we use automatic identification system data derived from satellite technology to predict fishing operations and find that industrial fleets spend 3%–6% of their time fishing within inshore areas reserved for small‐scale fisheries between 2012 and 2016, of the total 4.2 million industrial fishing hours within the Exclusive Economic Zones of African countries. We assessed the total fishing effort by this form of illegal fishing operations at 166 million kWhours at least out of 4.9 billion kWhours in total. We discuss this dangerous form of illegal fishing, which often results in deadly collisions with small‐scale sector operators, increases competition and conflicts over fisheries access, threatens the sustainability of fish stocks, and calls for better governance, and protection.
Seafood certification and eco-labeling programs, which leverage market forces to incentivize fisheries improvements, have changed the face of the global seafood market through an expanding supply of and demand for certified seafood. To contribute towards conservation goals, these programs employ a strategy termed the ‘theory of change, which predicts that as market demand for certified products grows, additional fisheries will improve practices and management in order to gain certification; however, there is limited evidence that this actually occurs, particularly in fisheries that require significant improvements to meet certification requirements. Here, we examine the capacity of one of the largest seafood certification programs in the world, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), to foster transformative change in The Bahamas Caribbean spiny lobster fishery. Drawing on fishery documentation and interviews with fishery stakeholders, we assess the role of the sustainable seafood market throughout the fishery’s transformation from “unsustainable’ to an MSC-certified fishery. We found that the MSC played three key roles in transforming the fishery from an undesirable state towards long-term sustainability by creating a stimulus for change, serving as guide prior to and throughout the fishery’s transition, and helping to stabilize the fishery in its new trajectory. This study provides the first empirical evidence for the conservation strategy employed by seafood certification programs for improving fisheries that require transformative change in order to meet sustainability goals.
Significance
We independently reconstructed vessels number, engine power, and effort of the global marine fishing fleet, in both the artisanal and industrial sectors. Although global fishing capacity and effort have more than doubled since 1950 in all but the most industrialized regions, the nominal catch per unit of effort (CPUE) has comparatively decreased. Between 1950 and 2015 the effective CPUE, among the most widely used indicator to assess fisheries management and stocks well being, has decreased by over 80% for most countries. This paper highlights the large differences in the development of sectorial fishing fleets regionally. This detailed paper empowers future exploration of the drivers of these changes, critical to develop sector and regionally specific management models targeting global fisheries sustainability.
Not as advertised
Marine protected areas (MPAs) have increasingly designated globally, with an associated advertised percentage of area protected. However, recent research has made it clear that many MPAs are not actually protecting marine biodiversity. Dureuil et al. focused on European MPAs and found that trawling, one of the most damaging types of fishing, occurs widely in these areas. Furthermore, using sharks and rays as indicator species, they found that many MPAs are failing to protect vulnerable species.
Science , this issue p. 1403
The theoretical origins of supply theory and supply-side structural reform lie in British and French classical economics, with their longstanding interest in supply, rather than in the later emergence of Jean-Baptiste Say and Say's Law, which attempts to deny the possibility of economic crises. Marx deepened supply theory, holding that production (supply) structure and product (income) distribution structure depended on the nature and structure of relations of production. This theory has been especially significant in guiding supply-side structural reform in China. The main reference value of American supply-side economics lies in some of its policy proposals for reforming and managing supply. Supply-side structural reform in China requires the development of a socialist supply theory with Chinese characteristics.
The sustainable seafood movement is at a crossroads. Its core strategy, also known as a theory of change, is based on market-oriented initiatives such as third-party certification but does not motivate adequate levels of improved governance and environmental improvements needed in many fisheries, especially in developing countries. Price premiums for certified products are elusive, multiple forms of certification compete in a crowded marketplace and certifiers are increasingly asked to address social as well as ecological goals. This paper traces how the sustainable seafood movement has evolved over time to address new challenges while success remains limited. We conclude by exploring four alternative potential outcomes for the future theory of change, each with different contributions to creating a more sustainable global seafood supply. The decades-long movement for sustainable seafood is centred on a ‘theory of change’ that emphasizes third-party initiatives for certification and consumer signalling. The evolution of that theory, and its potential futures, shows the challenges of management and co-ordination with multiple actors.
China has responded to a national land-system sustainability emergency via an integrated portfolio of large-scale programmes. Here we review 16 sustainability programmes, which invested US), covered 623.9 million hectares of land and involved over 500 million people, mostly since 1998. We find overwhelmingly that the interventions improved the sustainability of China's rural land systems, but the impacts are nuanced and adverse outcomes have occurred. We identify some key characteristics of programme success, potential risks to their durability, and future research needs. We suggest directions for China and other nations as they progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations' Agenda 2030.
China is the leading contributor to world fisheries production. This has been achieved by intensive exploitation of territorial and distant marine waters, by considerable development of mariculture, by extensive use and manipulation of freshwater fish stocks, and by extraordinary expansion and application of better techniques to freshwater culture. Marine capture fisheries were most important until the 1980s when, in response to overexploitation of wild stocks, emphasis shifted to aquaculture. By 1993, aquaculture accounted for more than half of China's fisheries production in spite of considerable expansion of its capture fisheries. Freshwater culture was the biggest fraction, producing 7.9 million t (36.7%). The highest yields were from ponds, followed by reservoirs, lakes, and river channels. Yields per unit area greatly increased because of better rearing methods, polyculture, integrated farm fish pond culture, introductions of new strains and species, and intensification of culture techniques. Present trends suggest that capture fisheries are approaching their limits. New investments are likely to concentrate on aquaculture. There are risks from disease, deteriorating water quality, use of suboptimal areas, and the demands of increasingly affluent Chinese people. The fisheries sector aims to maximize economic, social, and ecological benefits for Chinese society.
The interaction between fishing gears and the marine environment define 'fisheries,' and the effect of gears on marine ecosystems and fish stocks has been the source of much debate. Here, we present the first summary of globally reconstructed fisheries catches by major gear categories for 1950-2014. We used the Sea Around Us reconstructed global catch database that accounts for reported and unreported fisheries catches, and associated all catches to a fishing gear category. We assigned all industrial (i.e., large-scale) fisheries catches to industrial gear categories by fishing country, taxon, year and the area of fishing. Additionally, we derived catches by individual small-scale gear types for the most-important small-scale fishing countries in each of nine regions around the world, and applied their gear use to similar countries in each of the regions, to serve as a preliminary small-scale catch-by-gear assignment that can be improved upon over time. The combination of these account for gear use for all marine fisheries globally. We found that two industrial gear types, bottom trawling and purse seining, jointly account for over 53% of all catches, while bottom trawling alone dominated discarded catches. In the small-scale sector, over 60% of catches were caught by gillnets, various line gear, and encircling nets. Small-scale fisheries contributed most to the value of landed catches, while industrial bottom trawlers were responsible for discarding large amounts of potentially valuable catches. Catches by purse seines fluctuated over time, mainly due to variability of the underlying species, e.g., anchovies and sardines. The distribution and scale of use of different fishing gears, combined with knowledge of their divergent environmental impacts should allow a new wave of research into the global impacts of fisheries.
Among the economic reforms adopted by Beijing since the 1970s, the Chinese government has delegated some of its responsibilities to the provinces, particularly, those related to low-politics issues. Despite this experiment in power-sharing, the central government maintains dominance, with provinces appearing to act as agents or partners of the national government. This chapter examines the level and impact of this decentralization using Hainan’s role in the South China Sea as a case study. Hainan has in recent years exercised policies aimed at better administering contested territories in the maritime area, so the case study provides evidence of the degree of decision-making autonomy that Beijing gives to provincial authorities. The study finds that the imperative of high politics and Beijing’s heavy hand cast a shadow on the issues of low politics managed by Hainan authorities. Through dual-leadership administration, financial subsidies, and other means, the central government continues to enjoy dominance in decision-making in the province.
The United States is the world’s largest fish importer. Recent reports, however, indicate that 25–30% of wild-caught seafood imported into the US is illegally caught, heightening concerns over the country’s significant role in driving Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. In January 2017, NOAA enacted the Seafood Import Monitoring Program in an effort to combat IUU fishing through mandating improved seafood traceability requirements. This program requires reporting of fisheries data from harvest to arrival at the US border. Given the role of the US as a major global importer of seafood, this regulation could be a transformative action on fisheries worldwide if implementation includes two key components—(1) applying best available and most appropriate technologies and (2) building monitoring and enforcement capacity among trading nations. This paper provides insightful commentary on the potential for this US policy to lead by example and improve an essential natural resource that over a billion people worldwide depend on for nutrition and livelihoods.
China has dominated global aquaculture production for more than two decades. Aquaculture production in China increased from 24.6 million metric tons (mmt) in 2000 to 47.5 mmt in 2014, an increment of 93.1%. Along with the fast-growing aquaculture industry, aquafeed production in China increased from 5.1 mmt in 2000 to 19.0 mmt in 2014, an increment of 272.5%. However, despite the rapid increase in aquafeed production, the fishmeal usage in aquafeeds in China has remained stable over the years. Fishmeal imports into China remained relatively steady at 1.0–1.5 mmt per annum from 2000 to 2014. An often unacknowledged fact is that China contributes more than 60% to the world aquaculture production at a cost of only 25–30% of the world fishmeal output. This review attempts to explain why the fishmeal usage has not increased proportionately with the increasing aquafeed production in China from several angles: (i) the current status of fishmeal usage in Chinese aquaculture; (ii) the relationship between the decreasing dietary inclusions of fishmeal and improved feed techniques, especially the use of alternative protein sources for fishmeal; (iii) the dominance of Chinese aquaculture by low trophic level species of plants, filter feeders, herbivores and omnivores and consequent low demands for fishmeal; and (iv) the increasing price of fishmeal and the management of exploitation of wild fisheries in the main fishmeal exporting countries to China. The trends and prospects of fishmeal usage in the future in Chinese aquaculture and the associated consequences are also addressed. Like other countries, China is now actively developing both resource conservation-based capture fisheries and environment-friendly freshwater and marine aquaculture systems. Aquaculture will be the main source of aquatic food in the future and will also indirectly contribute to save the world wild fisheries, and China will be main player that will continue to contribute towards this end.
Background
Aquatic products processing industry (APPI) in China has been developing for several decades and is becoming a pillar sector in China's fisheries industry. There are some problems in the development of this industry, such as significantly lower-than-world-average APP ratio, improper regional structures, weakly development in freshwater products processing, and lower profit margin from processing.
Scope and approach
This study aims to provide a whole picture of China's aquatic products processing (APP) Industry. It also describes an overview of the development of aquatic product industry and evolutions of policies and regulation in China.
Key findings and conclusions
The findings indicated China's Aquatic product industry has progressed significantly in the past decades. The total products of the APPI gradually increased from 0.6 million tons in 1978 to 20 million tons in 2014. The ratio between aquatic products processing output and aquatic products output rose from 0.13 in 1996 to 0.32 in 2014, and the number of processing firms substantially increased during this period. Since 2004, the quality of the APPI gradually improved, and the APPI value-added rate increased from 29.76% in 2004 to 37.28% in 2014.
Some remarkable issues still exist in the process of APPI. Further policies need to focus on better industrial development planning, favorable tax for intensive processing sectors, as well as reinforced R&D and policy supports.
China's domestic politics and foreign policy have evolved considerably under President Xi Jinping. Domestically the regime has actively promoted the idea of the ‘China dream’ to restore optimism and enthusiasm about its future, particularly among young people. Yet it has also sought to differentiate the socialist China dream from any resemblance to the American dream. Its main emphasis is on making China ‘strong and powerful’ again. In foreign policy, the leadership has become more active. While China has pursued a more robust policy in the South China Sea, it has also launched two extremely ambitious long-term projects to expand land and maritime transport links between China and Europe, termed the ‘one belt, one road’ initiative. They aim to promote development of western China, but if successful, they should also help to transform economic relations across large parts of Eurasia. In geopolitical terms, they will expand China's shadow over regions of the world where hitherto its presence has been relatively modest. They should strengthen links with Europe, as well as with other countries along the routes, to counterbalance potentially conflictual relations with the US. However, success will require active and enthusiastic cooperation from many neighbours. For that reason the risks are as great as the ambition. © 2016 The Author(s). International Affairs
China's strategic and political considerations have directly and indirectly contributed to the growing presence of Chinese fishermen in disputed waters in the South China Sea and in the East China Sea. But it is an overstatement to claim that China is launching a “people's war” at sea. Based on extensive interviews with Chinese fishermen, scholars, and government officials and with a comprehensive review of the official documents, news reports, and existing research papers, the author argues that food security and economic factors are the primary drivers for the outward expansion of China's marine fishery sector. The Chinese fishermen are increasingly placed at the center stage of maritime conflicts in the troubled regional waters.
To discuss the type of legislature, this article explores what role the National People's Congress (NPC) plays in China's political system, particularly in legislation. According to Mezey's study (Comparative Legislatures, 1979), he defines ‘minimal legislatures’ as being characterised by having little or no policy-making power and being more supported by the elite. The assumption is that the NPC is a minimal legislature, acting as a rubber stamp for the executive. This study is used to test this assumption. The findings show that the NPC does play an important role in the whole political system, especially in legislation, though the NPC has typically been under the control of China's Communist Party. The findings also call into question the continued applicability of Mezey's classic typology legislatures given the development of the Chinese legislature. A new approach for classifying legislatures is introduced based on the institutionalisation and professionalisation of a legislature.
Formal analyses of long-term global marine fisheries prospects have yet to be performed, because fisheries research focuses on local, species-specific management issues. Extrapolation of present trends implies expansion of bottom fisheries into deeper waters, serious impact on biodiversity, and declining global catches, the last possibly aggravated by fuel cost increases. Examination of four scenarios, covering various societal development choices, suggests that the negative trends now besetting fisheries can be turned around, and their supporting ecosystems rebuilt, at least partly.
The international legal framework developed by the United Nations for the management and sustainable use of fisheries resources has not prevented the severe depletion of world fish stocks. In order to be effective, international agreements have to be voluntarily implemented by national governments. This process of domestic implementation has been little investigated by regime theory, despite the rich array of frameworks developed by policy studies. Therefore, this article seeks to contribute to regime theory through the use of insights coming from implementation research. In order to do so, the domestic implementation of international fisheries agreements in the People’s Republic of China is investigated. Responsible fisheries are not yet a common practice in China, although the country has adapted its legal framework to international requirements. The execution of new laws has been jeopardised not only by the lack of resources, but mainly by institutional conflicts and unclear policy contents.
China is the world's largest country in terms of fish production, yet its fisheries management is comparatively unknown outside the country. This article gives an overview of the current management system and highlights some of its challenges. In the past 30 years, the Department of Fishery Administration has formulated and organized a series of conservation and management regimes and measures. The most important tools are minimum mesh size regulation and a range of input control measures, including seasonal closures and attempts to control fishing capacity through licensing and limiting total engine power. However, fisheries output is only controlled through a nation-wide total catch limit. Certain progress has been achieved, but there are still problems as the resource situation is poor. While the existing measures could, in principle, improve sustainability, their enforcement is insufficient, and they do not limit fishing effort in a way that would allow recovery.