Coastal fisheries China has a coastline of 14,500 kilometers, and an
exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 877,019 square kilometers. The fishing grounds range from
sub-tropical to
temperate zones and include 431,000 square kilometers of continental shelves (within 200 meters deep). There are
ongoing disputes with several neighboring nations over the exact extent of the EEZ in the
South China Sea. The seas around China contain about 3,000
marine species, of which more than 150 species are fished commercially. Some major marine fishing species in recent times are
hairtail,
chub mackerel,
black scraper,
anchovy and some species of shrimps, crabs and smaller fishes. As of 2020 China had the world's largest distant waters fishing fleet with nearly 17,000 vessels, mostly registered in China but with approximately 1,000 registered under
flags of convenience. The fisheries authorities of China have adopted the following
fishery management methods: • Season moratorium: Since 1994, China has been imposing a hot season moratorium in the
Yellow Sea and the
East China Sea. This moratorium affects 120,000 fishing vessels and one million fishermen. During this period,
trawling and sailing stake net fishing are banned, and set nets are closed for at least two months in all marine areas. From 2004, all fishing operations, except use of
gillnets with mesh size over 90 mm, are banned in
Bohai Bay between 16 June and 1 September. They said that made it appear that the global catch since 1988 was increasing annually by 300,000 tonnes, whereas it was really shrinking annually by 350,000 tonnes. Watson and Pauly suggested this may be related to Chinese policies where state entities that monitored the economy were also tasked with increasing output. Also, until more recently, the promotion of Chinese officials was based on production increases from their own areas. China disputed this claim. The official
Xinhua News Agency quoted Yang Jian, director general of the Agriculture Ministry's Bureau of Fisheries, as saying that China's figures were "basically correct". However, the
FAO accepted there were issues with the reliability of China's statistical returns, and for a period treated data from China, including the aquaculture data, apart from the rest of the world.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) Chinese commercial fishing fleet is responsible for more illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) fishing than that of any other nation. The overcapitalization of the Chinese fishing fleet has exacerbated traditional concerns about IUU. From modernization through 2008 China reduced the capacity of their fishing fleet, since 2008 there has been a rapid increase in capacity linked to the rise of the
People's Armed Forces Maritime Militia and subsidies given by regional and local governments to fishing companies to upgrade vessels and expand capacity. China's Distant Water Fishing (DWF) fleet hosts information personnel, including Party cells and security stewards, to enforce discipline and reporting under a "far-seas policing" model, while advanced communications systems allow vessels to serve as mobile data nodes supporting Beijing’s Blue Ocean Information Network, which integrates fixed, floating, and underwater sensors for persistent maritime surveillance. In December 2022, the
United States Secretary of the Treasury issued sanctions on Pingtan Marine Enterprise and related individuals over human rights abuses tied to China-based illegal fishing.
Permanent Commission for the South Pacific (CPPS) South American countries such as Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Columbia; also known as the Permanent Commission to the South Pacific (CPPS), have been working to address the Chinese fishing industries effect on local fishing and environmental impact in Eastern Tropical Pacific Oceans. The main objective of the CPPS is to protect the ecological biodiversity of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean through the enforcement of maritime law and environmental regulations. The CPPS is directly linked to the Agreement on Port State Measure (PSMA) has enabled for the monitoring and surveillance of the Chinese fleet and identify
IUU fishing. CPPS and other UN groups such as
the International Maritime Organization, the International Labour Organization, and
the Food and Agriculture Organization have been trying to limit the amount of
IUU fishing that occurs ocean wide, yet there is still abundant amount of IUU fishing that occurs. Clearly there have been UN and NGO initiatives to eliminate IUU fishing internationally, however this still does not completely prevent IUU fishing from occurring. Sea Shepherd has been working with different naval forces in the Eastern Tropical Pacific to detect and combat IUU fishing. The crew were tried and convicted of
illegal fishing with each sentenced to four years in prison and the vessel's owner was fined six million dollars. Ecuadorian authorities and civil society accuse the Chinese of fishing indiscriminately and without respect for the law or regulations. While Chinese fishing vessels have visited the area every year since 1978 the number and size of the vessels has vastly increased in recent years. Analysis conducted by the non-profit organization
Oceana in partnership with
Global Fishing Watch noted that in September 2020, 300 Chinese merchant vessels were spotted off the coast of the Galapagos fishing squid, tuna, sharks, and other marine life. Satellite data analysis found that various fishing vessels spent a cumulative 73,000 hours fishing near the Galapagos Islands between August and September 2020. Oceana concluded that this fishing negatively affected sensitive marine life in the region and that Chinese vessels actively sought to evade detection by local authorities, either by practicing illegal
transshipment strategies or by disabling onboard public tracking devices. The exploitation of marine resources by illegal means is a problem acknowledged by Latin American countries on the Pacific coast. In November, 2020, the governments of Colombia, Chile, Peru and Ecuador released a joint official communique pledging to combat IUU off of its coasts in the coming decade. The governments of these four countries have pledged to increase international cooperation in the protection of the South American Pacific Coast. The Chilean government has stated that it aims to aid in the designation of 30% of the ocean as a
marine protected area by 2030 in an effort to disincentive IUU fishing. Global Fishing watch has also stated that greater transparency between Latin American nations and international cooperation are necessary to curb illegal fishing in the area.
North Korea Chinese commercial fishermen have engaged in large scale squid fishing in North Korean waters in violation of U.N. sanctions which prohibit foreign fishing vessels from fishing in North Korean waters. The Chinese squid fishing fleet in North Korean waters has at times numbered up to 800 vessels and has caused a 70% drop in squid stock in those waters. According to
Global Fishing Watch "This is the largest known case of
illegal fishing perpetrated by a single industrial fleet operating in another nation's waters." The decline in the squid stocks as a result of this illegal fishing is also believed to be a contributing factor to the increase in
North Korean ghost ships. The so called "dark fleet" has harvested half a billion dollars' worth of squid in North Korean waters since 2017.
Taiwan The decline in China's coastal fish stocks and the imposition of more expansive closed seasons has led to an increase in Chinese fishermen illegally fishing in
Taiwanese waters. In 2020 a fleet of Chinese fishing boats attacked
Coast Guard Administration and local environmental protection vessels which had been clearing illegal nets in Taiwanese waters.
Palau On December 15, 2020, the
Palaun patrol vessel
PSS Remeliik II detained a Chinese fishing vessel which had on board an unlicensed catch of of
sea cucumbers, which could have been sold for $800 per kilogram, in Asian markets. Earlier that fall, the
Remeliik had detained six smaller Chinese vessels. ==Aquaculture==