Evolution of marine fisheries management in China from 1949 to 2019: How did China get here and where does China go next?

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.     

Provenance of global seafood

Knowing where and how seafood is caught or farmed is central to empowering consumers, and the importers that supply them, with informed choices. Given the wide‐ranging, complex and at times commercially sensitive nature of global seafood trade, it can prove very challenging to link imported seafood with information about its provenance. The databases involved are incomplete, at times vague and not harmonized. Here, we present a first attempt to link all global seafood imports through a virtual marketplace to exports and map their origins. Considerable work remains to ground‐truth the specific origins of all seafood commodities. We illustrate the flow of seafood and its evolution since the 1970s when supporting records began. This work allows the impact of fishing or marine farming to be associated with seafood imports.     

Expanding the concept of sustainable seafood using Life Cycle Assessment

Fisheries management and sustainability assessment of fisheries more generally have recently expanded their scope from single‐species stock assessment to ecosystem‐based approaches, aiming to incorporate economic, social and local environmental impacts, while still excluding global‐scale environmental impacts. In parallel, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has emerged as a widely used and recommended framework to assess environmental impacts of products, including global‐scale impacts. For over a decade, LCA has been applied to seafood supply chains, leading to new insights into the environmental impact of seafood products. We present insights from seafood LCA research with particular focus on evaluating fisheries management, which strongly influences the environmental impact of seafood products. Further, we suggest tangible ways in which LCA could be taken up in management. By identifying trade‐offs, LCA can be a useful decision support tool and avoids problem shifting from one concern (or activity) to another. The integrated, product‐based and quantitative perspective brought by LCA could complement existing tools. One example is to follow up fuel use of fishing, as the production and combustion of fuel used dominates overall results for various types of environmental impacts of seafood products, and is also often linked to biological impacts of fishing. Reducing the fuel use of fisheries is therefore effective to reduce overall impacts. Allocating fishing rights based on environmental performance could likewise facilitate the transition to low‐impact fisheries. Taking these steps in an open dialogue between fishers, managers, industry, NGOs and consumers would enable more targeted progress towards sustainable fisheries.     

Using fish landing sites and markets information towards quantification of the blue economy to enhance fisheries management

Fisheries management uses important fish market information and information from Communication Technology (ICT) to improve fish trade by identifying inefficiencies, inequity and post‐harvest losses. The current study reports fisheries output using ICT at major landing sites and markets in Kenya and Uganda from the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) Enhanced Fish Market Information Service (EFMIS) database for 2009 – 2017. Catch assessment survey data validated the use of market data in drawing conclusions. Regional Frame Survey data provided information before EFMIS, enabling comparisons of fish trade costings. The average quantity of fish traded in Kenya depended on seasons of active lake fishing, which occurs in January – March and August – October, while Uganda had an irregular pattern associated with fish trade throughout the year. The quantity of fish traded weekly depended on the average price of fish. Lower sales margins during the EFMIS project showed the merits of information sharing using ICT platforms for efficient and equitable fish trade. Such evaluation of fish market information is useful in fish trade policy formulation and for fisheries management and ecological sustainability in rural and peri‐urban communities.     

微塑料在海洋渔业水域中的污染现状及其生物效应研究进展

海洋塑料污染已成为与全球气候变化、臭氧耗竭、海洋酸化并列的重大全球环境问题,其中尺寸小于5 mm的塑料碎片或颗粒(微塑料)更是倍受全球关注的新型污染物。研究表明,微塑料在海洋渔业水域中广泛存在,而且,作为人类优质蛋白重要来源的海洋渔业生物也已受到微塑料的污染。因此,微塑料在海洋渔业水域中的污染现状及其生物效应研究越来越受到关注。本文总结了海洋渔业水域中微塑料的主要来源及污染现状,归纳了微塑料对海洋渔业生物的主要毒性效应及致毒机制,探讨了微塑料沿食物链的传递作用及其对水产品质量安全的潜在影响,剖析了当前研究所面临的问题,并对未来的研究工作进行了展望,以期为科学评估微塑料对海洋渔业资源和水产品质量安全的影响提供科学依据。     

The global contribution of forage fish to marine fisheries and ecosystems

Forage fish play a pivotal role in marine ecosystems and economies worldwide by sustaining many predators and fisheries directly and indirectly. We estimate global forage fish contributions to marine ecosystems through a synthesis of 72 published Ecopath models from around the world. Three distinct contributions of forage fish were examined: (i) the ecological support service of forage fish to predators in marine ecosystems, (ii) the total catch and value of forage fisheries and (iii) the support service of forage fish to the catch and value of other commercially targeted predators. Forage fish use and value varied and exhibited patterns across latitudes and ecosystem types. Forage fish supported many kinds of predators, including fish, seabirds, marine mammals and squid. Overall, forage fish contribute a total of about $16.9 billion USD to global fisheries values annually, i.e. 20% of the global ex‐vessel catch values of all marine fisheries combined. While the global catch value of forage fisheries was $5.6 billion, fisheries supported by forage fish were more than twice as valuable ($11.3 billion). These estimates provide important information for evaluating the trade‐offs of various uses of forage fish across ecosystem types, latitudes and globally. We did not estimate a monetary value for supportive contributions of forage fish to recreational fisheries or to uses unrelated to fisheries, and thus the estimates of economic value reported herein understate the global value of forage fishes.     

THE RUSSIAN SEAFOOD REVOLUTION: SHIFTING CONSUMPTION TOWARDS AQUACULTURE PRODUCTS

A food consumption revolution is taking place in Russia. After decades of severe constraints on food consumption options under the communist regime Russian consumers are now adopting new food products—including seafood products – at a high pace. Since Russian consumers have previously had very limited seafood consumption choices, the market can be seen as an interesting laboratory for investigating consumer responses to products that have previously not been available. Among imported seafood products are both wild and farmed species. Furthermore, Russian imports include both traditional species such as herring, and ‘new’ species such as pangasius. We analyze market integration among seafood products using Russian monthly import prices from 2002 to 2007 on several products, such as herring, salmonids and pangasius. We find that pangasius compete in the white fish segment, and is a price leader. In the salmonids market, farmed salmon trout appears to be the price leader, both in the fresh and frozen market segment.     

Competition between farmed and wild fish: The French sea bass and sea bream markets

ABSTRACT

Aquaculture is contributing at an increasing rate to the world seafood supply. The interaction between fisheries and aquaculture is especially important for the seafood market where supply of wild and farmed fish can affect price dynamics. We examine market interactions in the French fresh sea bass and sea bream markets. We test for long-term price parity between farmed and wild products for these two species, applying a bivariate cointegration approach to market delineation. We also conduct the Law of One Price (LOP) test between price series. Our data base consists of monthly domestic price series for fish purchased by French households from 2007 to 2012. Our empirical results show that the fresh fish markets for whole wild and farmed sea bream are partially integrated, yet those for whole wild and farmed sea bass are not integrated. The substantially higher price for wild sea bass relative to farmed sea bass suggests that consumers may be more sensitive to seafood production processes when it comes to higher-value species.     

Fair trade fish: consumer support for broader seafood sustainability

Sustainable seafood initiatives began with efforts to promote and certify seafood sourced from well‐managed stocks caught with a reduced impact on the marine environment. More recently, social equity in fisheries has been the subject of increased concern with suggestions that seafood cannot be certified as sustainable if its production results in social harm, such as unfair wages or the use of forced or child labour. Together with local seafood, which has been promoted as an eco‐friendly and socially conscious alternative to globally sourced seafood, these initiatives signal a growing interest in fisheries as a social–ecological system. However, this increasingly complex landscape of environmental sustainability and social justice may be difficult for the public and seafood consumers to navigate. Here, we investigate consumer understanding of and responsiveness to a range of seafood sustainability initiatives by testing preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for seafood across the three types of sustainability: ecological sustainability, local origin and social sustainability. More than half of respondents demonstrated good understandings of both ecological sustainability and social sustainability with respect to seafood, and respondents were willing to pay more for all three types of sustainability. However, WTP for social sustainability benefits was the lowest, and consumers perceived a high degree of overlap of these benefits with those from locally sourced seafood. These results indicate that seafood certification taking a system‐wide approach has potential to succeed, but that it will need to emerge in concert with the increased public education about social problems associated with globalized fisheries.     

Ending overfishing while catching more fish

The world's seas and oceans are a vital source of animal protein from fishing and a major contributor to global food security. It has been argued that global wild‐catch production has reached its limit, and there is concern that many species are overfished. Concerns are also mounting about the state of marine ecosystems and the ecological impacts of fishing on them, with increasing efforts to protect marine biodiversity. Fisheries appear to be at an impasse – demand for seafood is rising but so is concern about the impacts of fishing. However, through a simple analysis, we show that global exploitation rates are well below long‐term sustainable levels at a whole ecosystem level. The oceans can support considerably higher sustainable catch than currently harvested. Overfishing has happened but only to a small fraction of species as a result of intensive and selective fishing. Shifting fishing effort away from highly targeted stocks towards currently underutilized species would reduce pressure on overfished species, result in fewer adverse ecosystem effects of fishing and increase overall fisheries production. This shift requires significant changes to our views about seafood, particularly in the developed world. We suggest ways in which this paradigm shift could happen and the range of expertise that would be required to achieve higher global yields with less ecological impact.     

Reputational damage and the Fukushima disaster: an analysis of seafood in Japan

As the levels of radioactivity in seafood have fallen back into the safe range, Fukushima fisheries are considering reopening. However, even if seafood from the Fukushima area were sufficiently safe to distribute to seafood markets, its value may be undermined because of the damage done to its reputation by the Fukushima disaster. We quantified consumers’ preferences for seafood from Fukushima and adjacent prefectures to examine the extent of the reputational damage to Fukushima seafood. We conducted a choice experiment to measure consumers’ willingness to pay for seafood from the Fukushima area. We also measured the impact of displaying ecolabels [Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Marine Eco-label Japan (MEL)] on Fukushima products. The results indicated that Fukushima products are considerably discounted compared with products displayed as domestic; even products from adjacent prefectures are substantially discounted. By contrast, consumers positively evaluated locally labeled products. We also found that demersal fish are discounted more than pelagic fish that inhabit the ocean surface off the shore of Fukushima.     

Early effects of COVID‐19 on US fisheries and seafood consumption

The US seafood sector is susceptible to shocks, both because of the seasonal nature of many of its domestic fisheries and its global position as a top importer and exporter of seafood. However, many data sets that could inform science and policy during an emerging event do not exist or are only released months or years later. Here, we synthesize multiple data sources from across the seafood supply chain, including unconventional real‐time data sets, to show the relative initial responses and indicators of recovery during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We synthesized news articles from January to September 2020 that reported effects of COVID‐19 on the US seafood sector, including processor closures, shortened fishing seasons and loss of revenue. Concerning production and distribution, we assessed past and present landings and trade data and found substantial declines in fresh seafood catches (?40%), imports (?37%) and exports (?43%) relative to the previous year, while frozen seafood products were generally less affected. Google search trends and seafood market foot traffic data suggest consumer demand for seafood from restaurants dropped by upwards of 70% during lockdowns, with recovery varying by state. However, these declines were partially offset by an increase (270%) in delivery and takeout service searches. Our synthesis of open‐access data sets and media reports shows widespread, but heterogeneous, ramifications of COVID‐19 across the seafood sector, implying that policymakers should focus support on states and sub‐sectors most affected by the pandemic: fishery‐dependent communities, processors, and fisheries and aquaculture that focus on fresh products.     

Understanding pressures on fishery resources through trade statistics: a pilot study of four products in the Chinese dried seafood market

This study investigates the dried seafood trade, centred in Chinese markets, in order to better understand the pressures its demand exerts on global marine resource stocks. Using Hong Kong, the region's largest entrepôt, as a focal point, the trade in shark fins, abalone, bêche‐de‐mer and dried fish is characterized in terms of product history, volume, source fisheries and species composition. Trends identified in the Hong Kong market are interpreted in the context of the larger Chinese market. Shark fin imports grew 6% per year between 1991 and 2000, most likely because of market expansion in Mainland China, posing increasingly greater pressures on global shark resources. In contrast, the quantities of dried abalone traded through Hong Kong remained steady, but inferences based on this trend are discouraged by suggestions of increasing preferences for fresh product forms and growing domestic production in Mainland China. Hong Kong's imports of dried bêche‐de‐mer (sea cucumber) have decreased, while the percentage of imports re‐exported has remained steady, suggesting that Hong Kong continues as an entrepôt for Mainland China despite declining domestic consumption. Few conclusions can be drawn regarding dried fish products, including whole fish and fish maws, because of a lack of product differentiation in customs data, but a market survey was conducted to provide information on species composition. Comparison of Hong Kong dried seafood trade statistics to those of other key trading partners indicates that, in general, Hong Kong's duty‐free status appears to encourage more accurate reporting of traded quantities. Under‐reporting biases ranged from 24 to 49% for shark fin and bêche‐de‐mer, respectively. Comparison to United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) databases indicates additional under‐reporting for shark fin such that an alternative minimum estimate of world trade is at least twice the FAO estimates in 1998–2000. The results of a survey of Hong Kong traders provide insight into their attitudes toward harvest, economic and regulatory factors, and suggest that conservation efforts are unlikely to emerge from, or be actively supported by, dried seafood trade organizations. The market's apparent sensitivity to economic sentiment, however, reveals an opportunity for consumer education to play a role in shaping future market growth and resource conservation. Recommendations are provided for improving trade statistics and for developing better analytical techniques to complement traditional methods for monitoring the exploitation and management of fisheries resources.     

1999-2000年福建省水产品进出口贸易实证分析

我国加入世界贸易组织在即,水产品贸易和流通将成为我国水产经济的主要研究领域,对渔业经济和管理将会产生一定的影响。本文分析了福建省1999-2000年不同水产品的贸易特征、与主要贸易国的贸易量、比较分析了不同进出口水产品的平均价格,得到了有一定参考价值的数据和资料。     

Impact of the 2014–2016 marine heatwave on US and Canada West Coast fisheries: Surprises and lessons from key case studies

Marine heatwaves are increasingly affecting marine ecosystems, with cascading impacts on coastal economies, communities, and food systems. Studies of heatwaves provide crucial insights into potential ecosystem shifts under future climate change and put fisheries social-ecological systems through “stress tests” that expose both vulnerabilities and resilience. The 2014–16 Northeast Pacific heatwave was the strongest and longest marine heatwave on record and resulted in profound ecological changes that impacted fisheries, fisheries management, and human livelihoods. Here, we synthesize the impacts of the 2014–2016 marine heatwave on US and Canada West Coast fisheries and extract key lessons for preparing global fisheries science, management, and industries for the future. We set the stage with a brief review of the impacts of the heatwave on marine ecosystems and the first systematic analysis of the economic impacts of these changes on commercial and recreational fisheries. We then examine ten key case studies that provide instructive examples of the complex and surprising challenges that heatwaves pose to fisheries social-ecological systems. These reveal important insights into improving the resilience of monitoring and management and increasing adaptive capacity to future stressors. Key recommendations include: (1) expanding monitoring to enhance mechanistic understanding, provide early warning signals, and improve predictions of impacts; (2) increasing the flexibility, adaptiveness, and inclusiveness of management where possible; (3) using simulation testing to help guide management decisions; and (4) enhancing the adaptive capacity of fishing communities by promoting engagement, flexibility, experimentation, and failsafes. These advancements are important as global fisheries prepare for a changing ocean.     

Control mechanisms and ecosystem‐based management of fishery production

Fishery ecosystems are complex and influenced by various drivers that operate and interact at different levels and over multiple scales. Here, we propose a holistic methodology to determine the key mechanisms of fisheries, trophodynamics, and environmental drivers of marine ecosystems, using a multilevel model fitted to data on global catch, effort, trophic level, primary production, and temperature for 130 ecosystems from 1950 to 2012. The model describes the spatial‐temporal dynamics of world fisheries very well with a pseudo R² = 0.75 and estimates the effects of key drivers of fishery production. The results demonstrate the integrative operation of bottom‐up and top‐down regulated trophic interactions at the global level and great variations in their relative importance among different types of ecosystem. The estimation of key drivers’ effects on marine ecosystems provides practical mechanisms for informed ecosystem‐based fisheries management to achieve the sustainable objectives that are consistent with the needs of specific fisheries.     

Transform high seas management to build climate resilience in marine seafood supply

Climate change is projected to redistribute fisheries resources, resulting in tropical regions suffering decreases in seafood production. While sustainably managing marine ecosystems contributes to building climate resilience, these solutions require transformation of ocean governance. Recent studies and international initiatives suggest that conserving high seas biodiversity and fish stocks will have ecological and economic benefits; however, implications for seafood security under climate change have not been examined. Here, we apply global‐scale mechanistic species distribution models to 30 major straddling fish stocks to show that transforming high seas fisheries governance could increase resilience to climate change impacts. By closing the high seas to fishing or cooperatively managing its fisheries, we project that catches in exclusive economic zones (EEZs) would likely increase by around 10% by 2050 relative to 2000 under climate change (representative concentration pathway 4.5 and 8.5), compensating for the expected losses (around ?6%) from ‘business‐as‐usual’. Specifically, high seas closure increases the resilience of fish stocks, as indicated by a mean species abundance index, by 30% in EEZs. We suggest that improving high seas fisheries governance would increase the resilience of coastal countries to climate change.     

Salmon importation and consumption in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Few studies have investigated salmon consumption and trade in unconventional emerging markets. Using import data, we calculate average per capita monthly salmon consumption in Taiwan, where all supply is imported, and use weighted least squares regression to relate it to economic variables, such as price, income, product types, and the exchange rate. By doing so, we interpret importers’ willingness to import and the features of salmon consumption. Results show complementarity between frozen and fresh salmon import quantities, insignificant exchange rate pass-through effects, and strong seasonal factors affecting salmon import quantity. In addition, the import price elasticity of fresh salmon is slightly larger than one, and the income elasticity is 1.33. We conclude that salmon has already become an important item for Taiwanese consumers, representing a case of globalization and liberalization. By explicating attributes of emerging seafood markets, this analysis will support stakeholders to formulate seafood trade policies and marketing strategies.     

Contribution of marine fisheries to worldwide employment

Marine fisheries contribute to the global economy, from the catching of fish through to the provision of support services for the fishing industry. General lack of data and uncertainty about the level of employment in marine fisheries can lead to underestimation of fishing effort and hence over‐exploited fisheries, or result in inaccurate projections of economic and societal costs and benefits. To address this gap, a database of marine fisheries employment for 144 coastal nations was compiled. Gaps in employment data that emerged were filled using a Monte Carlo approach to estimate the number of direct and indirect fisheries jobs. We focused on estimating jobs in the small‐scale fishing sector. We characterized small‐scale fishing as (i) primarily geared towards household consumption or sale at the local level; (ii) conducted at a low level of economic activity; (iii) minimally mechanized; (iv) conducted within inshore areas; (v) minimally managed; and/or (vi) undertaken for cultural or ceremonial purposes. In total, we estimated that 260 ± 6 million people are involved in global marine fisheries, encompassing full‐time and part‐time jobs in the direct and indirect sectors, with 22 ± 0.45 million of those being small‐scale fishers. This is equivalent to 203 ± 34 million full‐time equivalent jobs. Study results can be used to improve management decision making and highlight the need to improve monitoring and reporting of the number of people employed in marine fisheries globally.     

The effect of the Korea‐US free trade agreement on governance of the aquaculture value chain

We present a value chain analysis of seafood exports from South Korea to major consumer markets in the United States, outlining the global value chain of oyster products from South Korea and its governance structure. A major issue faced by consumers is the lack of ability to determine where and how the seafood products are produced and processed. This can be addressed through standards set by the importing firm or country. In this article, we show that Korea–USA free trade agreement has led to development of high‐capacity US‐approved farms and processing facilities, and stricter standards have created a more efficient production and processing sector for exporting seafood products from Korea to the United States.