Fishing Industry

   Marine Fishing

   Marine Fishing Grounds

   Marine Fishing Species

   Marine Catch Production

   Marine Catch Volume in Each Sea Region

   Composition of Marine Catches

   Catch Volume by Different Fishing Method

   Percentage Share of Different Fishing Method

    Inland Fishing

     Major Rivers in China

   Major Lakes in China

   Inland Fishing Species

   Production from Inland Fishing

   Percentage of Inland Fishing and Aquaculture

    Marine Fishing Production from Different Seas  

  Marine Fishing Production from Selected Regions

Marine Fishing"

China is the world’s top fishing nation and has vast resources available in her own waters.  Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea span from sub-tropical to temperate zones with a total sea waters of 1.03 million square nautical miles, of which 431,000 square nautical miles are continental shelves (within 200 meters deep).  The total fishing ground area is about 818,000 square nautical miles (see Table 5).

 

There are about 3000 marine species in the China seas, offering more than 150 commercial species.  The major fishing species are:

   Fishes:  Hairtail (Trichiurus haumela), Great yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea), Yellow croaker    (Pseudosciaena polyactis), Chub mackerel (Pneumatophorus japonicus), Scad, Pacific herring, Spanish mackerel, Chinese herring, Pomfrets, S.niphonius , Japanese mackerel, Conger pike, Left-eyed flounder, Right-eyed flounder, Butterfish, Porgy, Red snapper, Golden thread, Cod, Black scraper (Navodon modestus), Sardine, Globefish, Shark and Anchovy (Engraulis);

   Mollusks:  Cuttlefish, Squids (Sepiidae), Octopus, Mussel, Oyster, Razor clam, Blood clam, Clams, Abalone and Scallop;

   Shellfishes:  Shrimps, Acetes spp, Trachyp spp and Crabs;

   Echinoderms:  Sea cucumbers;

   Coelenterates:  Jellyfish;

   Algae:  Kelp, Laver.

Great yellow croaker , Yellow croaker, Hairtail  and Squids , only Hairtail has remained a high volume, the other 3 species are still far away from the historic records though their catch volumes are picking up in recent years.  Conversely, the total volume of pelagic fish and crustaceans increased.  For the moment, the major marine fishing species in the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are Hairtail, Chub mackerel , Black scraper , Anchovy  and some species from shrimps, crabs and smaller fishes.

China marine fishing production is made up of small scale fisheries and the State-owned enterprises.  The small scale fisheries are very active in fishery sector, producing an estimated 90% of total seafood supply.  However, the State-owned enterprises are important in large scale operations.  With the reform deepening up, the decision-making has been decentralized and the State-owned companies are increasingly operated along modern management principles, each being responsible for its profits and losses.  Separation of ownership from management has led to increased operational efficiency.

According to the statistics of 1996, there were more than 280,000 fishing vessels involved in marine catches with a total output of 11.22 million tons.  Since the beginning of 1980s, China’s output of marine catches has been continuously growing (see Chart 5).

(Chart 5: Volume in 10,000 tons ranges from over 3,000,000 in 1978 to almost 12,000,000 in 1998)

Marine catches have mostly taken place in the China seas including the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the South China Sea.  The catch volumes in each sea region between 1985 and 1996 are listed in the Table 6.  The top one is the East China Sea and then, in turn, the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea (see Chart 6).

(In order of volume in ten thousand tons data is show for the following seas: Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, E. China Sea, S. China Sea and other seas combined are shown. Bohia Sea has the largest volume with over 4,000,000 tons.)

Due to the frenetic fishing within the coastal areas between 1960s and 1970s, the inshore fishery resources have still not evidently improved.  The expansion of fishing capacity in domestic waters has by far outstripped the growth rate in production.  The composition of marine catches has undergone substantial changes, and the catch of the traditional high value marine species has been unstable or in decline.  Among the 4 traditional and commercially important species—Great yellow croaker (Pseudosiaena crocea), Yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena Polyactis), Hairtail (Trichiurus haumela) and Squids (Sepiidae), only Hairtail has remained a high volume, the other 3 species are still far away from the historic records though their catch volumes are picking up in recent years.  Conversely, the total volume of pelagic fish and crustaceans increased.  In both the East China Sea and Yellow Seas high value longer-lived demersal and predatory pelagic species have been replaced by lower trophic species, primarily smaller pelagics, such as Chub mackerel (Pneumatophorus japonicus), Black scraper (Navodon modestus), Anchovy (Engraulis).

Marine fishing methods have remained mostly unaltered for the decades.  Trawling is dominant and then in turn static fishing, gillnetting, seining and longlining. The catch volume by each fishing method between 1990 and 1996 is listed in the Table 8 and their shares in 1996 are shown by the Chart 7.  Among the marine catches, demersal species were 8.69 million tons, pelagic fish 3.8 million tons, in the ratio of 2.3 to 1.

(Chart 7: Trawling, seining, gilnetting, static fishing and lonelining are the primary methods graphed with 52% as the highest by trawling.)

Since 1995, a new fishing banned period in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea has been identified as the most coastal fishery resources have been overexploited.  Under the supports by the governments at various levels, the fishery authorities have strengthened the management and inspection.  In August 1997, approved by the State Council, the Ministry of Agriculture released the Regulation on the Control of Marine Fishing Efforts during the Ninth-Five Year Plan (1995-2000).  Organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, the coastal administrations reissued all fishing licenses.  This will help establish a new marine fishing production system and ensure the fishery resource stable and sustainable as well as raise fishermen’s awareness of the importance in the resource protection.

Chinese distant-water fisheries started in 1985 and have played more and more important role in China marine fishing industry.  Currently, the fishing activities have extended to more than 60 nations or regions in the world and employed 21,200 Chinese fishermen and 1381 fishing vessels with an output of 926,500 tons in 1996, accounting for 8.26% of China’s total marine fishing production, and value of US$56.7 millions.  This numbers are set to grow as China gains access to new fishing grounds through agreements with foreign countries.  The principal force of the distant-water fisheries is China National Fishery Corporation (CNFC) which sent the first fishing fleet in 1985 to West African waters, starting China distant-water fisheries.  In addition, CNFC worked with some other Chinese partners, primarily larger fishery companies, marched to the North Pacific for the trawling operations in 1986 and also to the South Pacific in 1988 for tuna longlining.  In 1989, the squid longlining was developed in the Japan Sea and the North Pacific and has become an active fishing operation.  The distant-water fisheries have been considered as a top priority in the economic development program by the Chinese government as it helps:

   mobilize production initiatives of fishing enterprises.  It was reported that a number of fishing companies from 12 provinces as well as CNFC had been involved in distant-water fisheries.  Some of them have even set up their branches or joint ventures locally and carried out various businesses with their international partners.  This has not only brought them economic benefits but also the promotion of international cooperation.

   protect Chinese coastal fishery resources.  Development of distant-water fisheries has more or less shared some fishing efforts and ease Chinese coastal fishing pressures. 

   enrich seafood supply.  With the development of distant-water fisheries, more and more fish products have been sent back to China to meet the increasing demands of Chinese markets.  In 1996 it reached 390,000 tons.

   bring along the development of domestic fishing vessel and machinery industry.  More and more China-made fishing facilities used in distant-water fisheries indicate that China is now capable of manufacturing advanced fishing vessels and accessory facilities.

   promote the international trade.  It was reported that CNFC alone had made more than 1billion RMB with 10 years through export of various fishery facilities and materials to the local markets.

2.2.2  Inland Fishing

China possesses a total inland waters of 176,000 square km (or 17.6 million hectors),  accounting for 1.8% of the inland territories.  The major rivers and lakes are listed in Table 9 and In addition, there are more than 80,000 reservoirs with a total area of 2 million hectors.

It is reported that China has 709 freshwater fish species and 58 subspecies, excluding 64 species migrating between sea and inland waters.

 The economically important species are:

   fishes:  black carp, grass carp, silver carp, big head carp, common carp, crucian carp, bream, reeves shad, eel, cat fish, rainbow trout, salmon, whitebait, mullet, mandarin fish, perch, sturgeon, murrel, pangolin;

   shellfishes:  freshwater shrimps, river crabs;

   molluscs:  freshwater mussel, clams, snails;

   aquatic plants:  lotus, water chestnut, gorgon euryale;

   others:  soft-shell turtle, frog.

Before 1963, China inland fishery is dominated by inland fishing.  For example, the ratio of fishing to aquaculture was 85 : 15 in 1949 and 52 : 48 in 1959.  Since 1960s, the nature inland fishery resources have seriously decreased owing to the frenetic growth of fishing, uncontrolled dam building, land reclaim for agriculture and severely industrial pollution.  During 1970s, the annual output of inland fishing was always around 300,000 tons.  After 1978, the government has set up related organizations to deal with those problems and stocked fish fingerlings to the rivers, lakes and reservoirs to enhance inland fishery resources.  As a result, the situation is much better now and the output of inland fishing has been steadily growing ( see Chart 8).  In 1996, it reached 1.76 million tons.  However, the ratio of inland fishing to aquaculture has totally converted as inland aquaculture in China has continuously made giant strides in the last decades (see Chart 9).

(Chart 8: Volume grows from less than 500,000 tons in 1979 to more than 1,500,000 tons in 1996.)

(Chart 9; In 1978 volume for fishing starts at approximately 200,000 tons in 1978 and grows to approximately 1,900,00 tons in 1996. Volume for aquaculture is approx. 1,000,000 in 1978 and grows to over 12,500,000 tons in 1996.)

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