Assessment of Quality of Fishery Resources in the Northeastern South China Sea

Abstract

The quality of fishery resources and its assessment is critical and a key to the sustainable development and management of fisheries. In this paper, the quality of fishery resources in the northeastern South China Sea was assessed by analyzing the survey data of fishery resources obtained through bottom trawling in 1964–1965, 1997–1999, 2006–2007, and 2017. The results show that fishery resources in the study region have declined significantly. In 2017, the density of fishery resources in the region was only 19.53% of that in 1964–1965. Overall, the quality of fishery resources in the region showed a downward trend with a quality grade index ranging from 0.30 to 0.42. It was in a critical condition from 1997 to 2007, and in poor condition from 2007 to 2017. In the 53 years from 1964 to 2017, the quality index of fishery resources in the region has decreased by 0.70, with an average decline of 0.13 every 10 years. In the past 20 years, the decline rate of the quality of fishery resources in the northeastern South China Sea has slowed.

Research on the Key Success Factors for the Transformation of the Traditional Fishery to Recreational Fishery in Taiwan’s Outlying Islands

“…The global fishery resources are depleted, and fishermen's catches are decreasing daily [1,47]. There are cases in many countries of the transformation of traditional fishing ports-for example, the Haedomari Fishing Port in Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan; the Tobishima Fishing Port in Yamagata Prefecture in Japan; the Tarumi Fishing Port in Kobe City in Japan, which combines yachts and exotic styles; and the Himi Fishing Port in Toyama Prefecture in Japan, which is famous for its fixed-net fisheries and fresh fish festivals [48].…”

Better or worse food: Nutrition value of the prey fishes and the potential health implications for Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins

“…While the total number of spiny croakers has increased slightly, the populations of some of the humpback's other prey fish, including mullet, clupeoid and anchovy, have declined over the last 20 years (Figure S1). In most of the humpback dolphin's habitat, heavy fishing activity and climate change have combined to cause the fishery resources collapse and fish community composition alteration (Teh et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2022;Yuan et al, 2022). Stomach samples taken from stranded humpback dolphin carcasses covering Lingding Bay and the western Pearl River Delta during 2003 and 2017 indicate not only a prey spectrum wider than those previously reported, but also a dietary switch from primarily demersal to greater intake of neritic and pelagic fish (Lin et al, 2021).…”

Impacts of Strong ENSO Events on Fish Communities in an Overexploited Ecosystem in the South China Sea

“…To protect marine fisheries, management policies such as "double control" of fishing vessels (limiting their number and power), a total management system (limiting fishing quota allocation and protecting juvenile fish), and seasonal fishing moratoriums have been implemented [21]. These policies have led to a gradual balance among fishing capacity, catch amount, fisheries resource carrying capacity, and fishing intensity in these waters has stabilized or even decreased [22,23]. Despite this, ongoing anthropogenic disturbance and increasingly intense environmental changes mean that the recovery of fishery resources in the South China Sea will take time.…”