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 sizeaccounting 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. offers for the restoration and enhancement of wild fisheries, the protection of marine ecosystem services, and the amelioration of coastal pollution are momentous. Achieving the Plan's marine protection objectives will be challenging, however, and will require new approaches for state governance of marine resources, data sharing and use for policy implementation, and an expanded public appreciation of marine ecosystem services for sustained economic growth and environmental quality. Without serious institutional adjustments, even the most limited

Chen, X. J., Zhao, X. H., and Chen, Y. 2007. Influence of El Niño/La Niña on the western winter–spring cohort of neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64: 1152–1160. Ommastrephes bartramii is an oceanic squid distributed widely in the North Pacific, and its western winter–spring cohort is the target of a traditional squid fishery. Commercial fisheries data from the Chinese mainland squid-jigging fleet for the period 1995–2004 were analysed with respect to environmental variables. Sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the Niño 3.4 region had the strongest negative correlation with the SSTA of feeding and spawning grounds of the squid, with a time-lag of three and eight months (p < 0.05), respectively. A La Niña event would result in a decrease in squid recruitment through variability in environmental conditions on the spawning grounds, whereas an El Niño event would lead to environmental conditions favourable to squid recruitment. El Niño/La Niña events also influenced squid distribution on the feeding grounds, resulting in a northward shift of the fishing grounds in La Niña years and a southward shift in El Niño years. A multiple linear regression equation was derived to describe the dependence of the squid abundance index on environmental variables.

Research on the spatial patterns of human-wildlife conflict is fundamental to understanding the mechanisms underlying it and to identifying opportunities for mitigation. In the state of Xishuangbanna, containing China’s largest tropical forest, an imbalance between nature conservation and economic development has led to increasing conflicts between humans and Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), as both elephant numbers and conversion of habitable land to rubber plantations have increased over the last several decades. We analyzed government data on the compensation costs of elephant-caused damage in Xishuangbanna between 2008 and 2012 to understand the spatial and temporal patterns of conflict, in terms of their occurrence, frequency and distribution. More than 18,261 incidents were reported, including episodes involving damage to rubber trees (n = 10,999), damage to crops such as paddy, upland rice, corn, bananas and sugarcane (n = 11,020), property loss (n = 689) and attacks on humans (n = 19). The conflict data reconfirmed the presence of elephants in areas which have lacked records since the late 1990s. Zero Altered Negative Binomial models revealed that the risk of damage to crops and plantations increased with proximity to protected areas, increasing distance from roads, and lower settlement density. The patterns were constant across seasons and types of crop damaged. Damage to rubber trees was essentially incidental as elephants searched for crops to eat. A predictive map of risks revealed hotspots of conflict within and around protected areas, the last refuges for elephants in the region, and along habitat corridors connecting them. Additionally, we analyzed how mitigation efforts can best diminish the risk of conflict while minimizing financial costs and adverse biological impacts. Our analytical approach can be adopted, adjusted and expanded to other areas with historical records of human-wildlife conflict.

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