Species traits determined different responses to “zero-growth” policy in China’s marine fisheries

Abstract

China remains the largest nation of marine capture fisheries in the world in the last few decades, at the cost of offshore fisheries degradation by overfishing. Although fisheries regulations have become gradually tightened, the recovering evidences are weak and the catch species compositions are far from satisfactory. To explore better and reasonable countermeasures, besides the “zero growth” policy (i.e. the national total fisheries production limitation), five targets with different ecological traits were selected for stock assessment and rebuilding by Monte Carlo Catch-Maximum Sustainable Yield method. The results showed the control of total rather than species catch could not lead to the recovery of fisheries and maintain community function. Individual species showed different responses to overfishing according to their biological characteristics. High trophic level species can be sensitive to overfishing, and difficult to rebuild stocks after collapse. Pelagic small fish resources increased first but eventually decreased under high fishing pressure. Scientific-based restocking can enhance resource recovery. Besides “zero growth” policy, fisheries management should be further refined, in particular for main economic species based on their biological traits, as well as the support of reliable fisheries statistics and regulation implementation in place. To relieve the conflict between rising fishery products demand and falling catches, aquaculture and seeking resources from the high seas and EEZs are supposed to be successful ways, on the premise of taking full account of ecological health, maritime safety, and food security.

Managing a multi-species fishery in distant waters: the case of the Spanish-flagged purse seine fishery targeting tropical tuna in the Indian Ocean

“…The application of the catch limit per vessel but taking into account the species composition ratio, also avoids the weaknesses of applying only a total catch control (without taking species composition into account). It has been shown from Chinese fisheries that total catch control regulation does not lead to the recovery of fisheries and the maintenance of community function (Kang et al, 2022). In this study were included different trophic levels, and individual species have different responses to overfishing that highly associated with their biological characteristics (Kang et al, 2022).…”

“…It has been shown from Chinese fisheries that total catch control regulation does not lead to the recovery of fisheries and the maintenance of community function (Kang et al, 2022). In this study were included different trophic levels, and individual species have different responses to overfishing that highly associated with their biological characteristics (Kang et al, 2022).…”

Stock Assessment of the Commercial Small Pelagic Fishes in the Beibu Gulf, the South China Sea, 2006–2020

“…However, as the world's largest producer of marine fishery [6], China has experienced a significant decline in the quality and quantity of its coastal fishery resources in the past few decades due to the lack of restrictions on fishing yields [7,8], which makes it urgent to promote the sustainable development of fishery resources and the restoration of marine ecosystem functions. Over the past two decades, the Chinese government has promulgated and implemented a series of fishery management policies and measures, among which the most far-reaching ones are the "summer fishing moratorium" and "'Zero-growth' and 'Negative-growth' strategies" [9,10]. The specific contents can be summarized as suspending fishing operations during the fishing moratorium, limiting national total fisheries production, and setting targets for negative growth in fishing capacity, respectively.…”