1. Marine Resources Fisheries: And Fishing in The South China Sea
“Fish are wildlife, and they are the only wildlife we continue to hunt on a large scale…” Carl Safina
Fisheries:
concentrations of particular aquatic species suitable for commercial harvesting in a given ocean area or inland body of water (lakes, rivers, reservoirs, ponds)
the third major food producing system after cropland and grazing land
Remember, living sustainably means living off interest and not the capital that supplies the interest.
Miller (2003): Chapter 16

2. Marine resources:
provide 20% of all the animal protein we eat
~1/3 of world fish harvest: used as animal feed, fish meal, oils
60% of fish consumption: by the developing world
In Asia, 1 billion people rely on fish as their primary source of protein.
Fishing employs ~200 million people worldwide

3. Fishery Terminologies
Aquaculture: farmed or cultured fish
Capture fisheries: wild-caught fish
fish from the sea (marine)
from inland bodies of water, such as lakes and ponds (inland)
Stock: the population of a species that is exploitable

4. Fishery Terminologies
“Fish” is a broad term that encompasses:
Finfish: the true fish, which are further divided into:
demersal fish: live on or near the seabed (e.g. cod, flatfishes)
pelagic fish: live in the water column (e.g. tuna, salmon, anchovy)
Finfish make up the majority of world fish catches.
Shellfish: includes crustaceans (shrimps, crabs)
and molluscs (squid, octopus, clams, mussels)
Also, smaller scale fisheries based on:
Echinoderms (sea urchins, sea cucumbers)
Jellyfish

5. World’s Commercial Fishing Industry
Dominated by industrial fishing fleets using
Satellite positioning equipment
Sonar
Huge nets
Spotter planes
Factory ships (that can process and freeze catches)

6. Sources of Annual Commercial Catch
~55%: ocean
~99% of this catch from plankton-rich coastal waters (but, coastal pollution!)
~33%: aquaculture
raising marine and freshwater fish in ponds and underwater cages
~12%: inland freshwater fishing (lakes, rivers, reservoirs, ponds)

7. Total Fish Production
Global capture fisheries and aquaculture production (2000; U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)):
1997: 122 million tonnes
1998: 117 million tonnes (because of El Niño effects on some major marine capture fisheries)
1999: production recovered to an estimated 125 million tonnes.
Capture fisheries have peaked and remained stable
 extra 20 million tonnes over the last decade was mainly from aquaculture

8. World Total Fish Production
Million Tonnes
Aquaculture
Capture Fisheries

9. Capture Fisheries Production
There was a time when the oceans and fisheries resources were considered to be so vast that they could not be damaged or depleted by Man.
s: capture fisheries increased by 6% per year
s: average increase was only 2% per year
In 1990s: rate of increase in fisheries production was almost zero

10. Fish Utilization World excluding China Population (billions)
100 80 60 40 20
1950
1970
1980
1960
1990 5 4 3 2 1
Population
(billions)
Fish utilization
(million tonnes) 30 10
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
Food
Feed
World excluding China
China
Source: FAO (2000)

11. Fishing Trends
This levelling off of total world catch follows the general trend of the world’s fishing areas – apparently have reached maximum fishing potential,
i.e. fish stocks are fully exploited.
Recent global patterns of fish production owes much to the activities of China
 China’s fish production now (in weight)
= 32% of the world total

12. Top producer countries of marine and inland capture fisheries in 1998
Capture Fisheries Production
Top producer countries of marine and inland capture fisheries in 1998
(Data: FAO 2000)

13. Status of Fisheries Resources
There is a large amount of evidence that many marine resources have been overfished.
Overfishing: the taking of so many fish that too little breeding stock are left to maintain numbers
Prolonged overfishing: leading to commercial extinction of a fish stock (e.g. Newfoundland Cod) (when the population of a species declines to the point at which it is no longer profitable to hunt for them)
As one species becomes overfished, we simply move on to another species and overfish that as well

14. Fisheries are also depleted by high levels of bycatch (the non-target fish that are caught in nets and then thrown back into the sea, usually dead or dying)
Depleting marine biodiversity
Does not provide food for people
60% of the world’s important fish stocks: in “urgent need of management”

15. Increasing Fishing Efforts
Despite warnings of a slow down in production rate of marine capture fisheries in the s, the fishing industry increased fishing efforts.
Boats became bigger, more powerful, and fishing technology has improved.
Many fishing vessels are packed with high-tech fish-finding equipment:
Echo-sounders
Sonars
Global positioning systems (GPS)
Even spotter planes!

16. The Tragedy Of The Commons
Overuse of common-property or free-access resources  environmental degradation
Such resources
Owned by no one
Or, owned jointly by everyone in the area
Available to all users at little or no charge

17. Does this logic work? Degradation of renewable free-access resources
Tragedy of the Commons
User reasons:
“If I do not use this resource, someone else will. The little bit I use or pollute is not enough to matter, and such resources are renewable.”
Does this logic work?

18. Fish should be a renewable resource – as long as enough fish are left annually to reproduce
Ideally, an annual sustainable yield should therefore be established for each species
Difficult to estimate mobile aquatic populations
Sustainable yields shift from year to year (climate change, pollution, etc)
Traditionally, the seas were regarded as common property and fishermen were free to go where they liked and to catch as much as they could
 If they did not catch the fish, some one else will – “Tragedy of the Commons”

19. Overcapacity of Fishing Industry
Too many boats fishing for a decreasing number of fish.
Today, the fishing industry is twice as large as necessary. This overcapacity is global:
Norway: 60% overcapacity
Western Europe: 40% overcapacity

20. Fishery Management Fishery regulations Economic approaches
Impose fees for harvesting fish and shellfish from publicly owned and managed offshore waters (money used for government fishery management)
Reduce or eliminate fishing subsidies
Reduce bycatch levels
Using wider-mesh nets
Enacting laws to prohibit throwing edible and marketable fish back to sea
Having observers on fishing vessels

21. Hong Kong Fisheries Fishing in Hong Kong has little or no restrictions
Aberdeen, HK.
~ 5,000 fishing vessels
11, 900 fishermen working abroad in the fishing industry
AFCD
Fishing in Hong Kong has little or no restrictions
 HK waters are now heavily overfished
In 2000: an estimated 157,000 tonnes of fish were produced, with 90% of the catch coming from waters outside Hong Kong

22. China’s Fisheries China’s fisheries
Have entered a period of rapid growth since 1985
Average annual growth rate ~14%, much higher than world average
However, problems now facing China are:
Inshore fishery resources with the South China Sea area: heavily exploited
Water environments: deteriorating
Aquaculture: serious fish diseases
Fishing in offshore and long distant waters: has been constrained due to new international marine law

23. Sustaining Fisheries in S. China Sea
The South China Sea:
One of the most productive regions in the world
Produces on average ~10% of global fisheries catch annually
China has adopted various measures to conserve such resources and implement a sustainable marine development strategy:
Various closed fishing seasons
Closed fishing areas
Marine sanctuaries set up
Moratorium systems (fishing ban)
Restricting size of net meshes
In 1979: fishing permit system introduced
Since 1995: a midsummer moratorium system

24. Fishing Moratorium
In 2003, fishing moratorium of the South China Sea (fishing ban in the South China Sea area north of 27°N):
June 1 to August 1
All fishing operations in the South China Sea suspended (except gill-netting, long-lining, hand-lining, cage trapping)
Some 1,400 HK fishing vessels affected
The ban was imposed to conserve fishery resources and promoting sustainable development of the fishing industry.