The fisher sector of China has expanded fast since late 1970, and as the third largest country in the world, China’s fishing catching policy generates impacts both on its national economy and the global economy. According to Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nation (FAO), China’s fishery output was ranked number one in the world from 1990 to 1996, contributing approximately 25% of the global output. For the past two decades, the fisheries sector of China has been its fastest growing sub-sector, and the average annual growth rate is around 10% each year. Aiming to protect fisheries resources and to seek a sustainable development of the fisheries economy, the Fisheries Management Bureau of China (FMB) proposed a new policy named “Zero Growth of capture fishing” and started a new program to accomplish it in 1999. The Zero Growth Policy has been implemented at all levels of governments in each coastal province, and appropriate measures have been taken based on local conditions. The purpose of this policy is to control the catch industry as well as to let the local official aware that in term of the performance of fisheries, qualitative changes are more important than quantitative changes. The ultimate goal chosen by the government of China is to make the capture fisheries become zero growth. In order to achieve this goal, the FMB imposes regulations on the number of fishing vessels by enhancing the distribution of fishing licenses (the fishing license system has already been established since 1980), and fishing is not allowed in major inland fishing area and coastal marines during closed seasons.
However, it seems that the Zero Growth policy did not work well in 1999, and the based on the data provided by FAO, although the rate of growth in marine capture sherry decreased from 8% to 0.006%, the goal of zero growth was not met. Thus, five new regulations were designed based on the new fishery structure adjustment guideline issued by the Ministry of Agriculture of PRC (MOA) to reduce fishing efforts: no more permissions on building new vessels; clearing up all illegal boats; non-fishery labour not allowed to participate in the fishery sector; no fishing for foreign boats and establishment of vessel retirement systems. Apparently , the new adjustments worked towards the object of the Zero Growth policy, and it was reported by FMB that in 2000, the growth rate of marine capture fishery declined to negative 1.4%, and the inland capture fishery also experienced a growth rate of -2.3%. Compared with the situation in the mid-1980, where capture fish production accounted for about 55% of the total production, in 2000, 60% of the total production was culture fish production and capture fish took approximately 40%.
The population of China accounts around 1/5 of the world population, and employment has always been its top priority. The fishery sector contributes not only to China’s economy but also to its employment. Based on the data from the National Oceanographic Data Centre (NOAA), in 1996, there were around 12.08 million of people in China participated in fisheries production, and almost 9 million new jobs were opened after 1979. It is estimated that the lives of around one fifth Chinese have been heavily relied on fishery production, both directly and indirectly. Before the Zero Growth policy was issued, many worried that it would impact the national economy negatively. However, the official statistics provide us with positive evidences. In 1996, the per capita income of fishery population, on average, was $3826 RMB (approximately equivalent to $500 US dollars) while average income of rural population was only 1926 RMB (around $250 US dollars). In 2000, the number of people directly employed in the fisheries sector was 13.1 million, and in total around 20.4 of people were associated with the industry at different degrees. The export earnings generated by the fisheries sector in 2000 was $4.7 billion US dollars. MOA points out that in 2002, the per capital income of fishermen increased to $8667 US dollars, and this value is more than 15 times of it in 1996. One reason behind this improvement in incomes is shifting the centre of fishery productions from capture fish to culture fish. FOA states out that the culture fish production had been continuously increasing since 1970. In 1990, 51% of the total fish production in China was contributed by culture fish productions, and this number rose to 60% in 2000. This indicates that some fishermen who might be affected by the Zero Growth policy were able to relocate themselves in the culture fish industry. The Zero Growth policy might have worked in the way as the government of China initially claimed in 1999.
The FAO has always been questioning the data produced by the MOA, believing that local governments in China have been over-reporting their productions. The Zero Growth policy is often considered as the last response from China to FAO’s doubts. However, numbers described the consequences of this policy are largely produced by China’s authorizes; therefore, FOA still holds the creditability questionable. While the government of China has concluded the Zero Growth policy as successful, several institutions still think that the fish stock of china has been continuously declining. Nevertheless, we cannot the effort that China has put on seeking solution for sustainable development in the fisheries sector, and the Zero Growth Policy is just the first action taken by the Chinese government. So for, it is less than 15 years since the policy has been implemented, and the time phrase is not long enough for observing results in the long run. Further researches may be needed for deeper investigations on looking for more significant information. Making conclusion about the impact of this policy now could be misleading to readers.
Reference:
Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nation, Reports on China’s Fisheries sector, FOA,2013
Li, Luping and Jikun Huang, China’s accession to the WTO and its implications for the fishery and aquaculture sector, center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, 2003
National Oceanographic Data Center, Importance of the Fishery Industry in China, NOAA, 1996
R.Wastom, L.Pang and D. Pauly, The Marine Fisheries of China Development and Reported Catches, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia,2001
Other resources:
Ministry of Agriculture of PRC