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China is the largest producer in the world of fish. In 2004 it captured 16.9 million tonnes of fish and raised 30.6 million tonnes of fish through aquaculture. This production resulted in a domestic food supply of 28.4 kg per capita as well as excess for exports and other uses besides food (FAO, 2007). However, numbers from China are sometimes unreliable, often erring on the high side, so we must view these numbers as questionable and rough.
Aquaculture and Capture Fisheries
Aquaculture is expanding more quickly than any other food industry. The FAO reports that since 1970, aquaculture has grown 8.8% per year, while capture fishing has only increased by 1.2 % (2007). Developing countries actually account for 91.4% of aquaculture production, and China is supposedly the producer of 70% of aquacultured fish worldwide. In China, inland water aquaculture has grown 10.8% in the same period, and marine aquaculture grew 10.7%. Regarding capture fisheries, China has about 8.5 million fishermen, 13 million total fishermen and fish farmers (31% of world's total). It can come as no surprise that since 2002, China has been the world's top exporter of fish. In 2004 China's fish export reached a value of $6.6 billion, which is an 11% increase since 1994. Some of China's exportation is accounted for by the fact that much of it's industry involves transforming unprocessed raw goods into final products to be be re-exported, largely because of its low labor costs. China has also increased its percentage of imports. The value of these imports rose from $0.2 billion in 1990 to $3.1 billion in 2004. This recent increase was caused primarily by China's joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 requiring it to lower it's average tariff from 15.3% in 2001 to 10.4% in 2004 (FAO, 2007).
Fisheries Sector Growth
In the past three decades, global employment in aquaculture and fisheries has grown faster than employment in traditional agriculture, causing the number of people involved in this industry to grow at a faster rate than the population of the planet. It is still a very small portion of the overall food production sector; in 1990 2.3% percent of global agriculture was fishing and aquaculture, a percentage that has now swelled to 3.1%. This is a 35% growth, which occurs mostly in Asia where most fishermen and aquaculture are (FAO, 2007).
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The popularity of fish in recent years has several factors, including but not limited to the developed world following trends that portray fish as much healthier than other protein sources, and the emergence of diseases such as avian flu and mad cow, resulting in people being less enthusiastic about poultry and beef, and therefore turning to fish as an alternatives (FAO, 2007).
Fish Market and Trade
About 90% of all fish and fish products are traded in some processed form. Only ten percent is sold in a live, fresh, or frozen state (47). Although in recent years, due to improvements in refrigeration and transportation technology, live fish are a growing percentage of the market. This portion of the market includes ornamental fish as well as fish intended for consumption. Some Asian markets (including communities composed mainly of immigrant communities), like China's, prefer their fish intended for consumption live (FAO, 2007).
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The groundfish market (this includes such fish as cod, hake, and pollack) has shown definite price increases in recent years, due to increased demand in some Asian nations and lower catch rates in some South American countries, reducing overall supply. The supply problem was lessened by China's increasing contribution to groundfish supply (FAO, 2007).
Implementation of Our Solution in China
With these facts in mind, it is apparent that fish consumption and production in China is a considerable chunk of the world's consumption and production, and is therefore a major part of the global problem. Even if such widescale production is warranted by the needs of the Chinese population, it is undeniable that sooner or later the live marine resources around that China is now exploited exploiting will become depleted, if they are not already.
Steps Already Being Taken
China has already recognized this fact, and has begun to try to reverse some of its growth. In 2002, China implemented a five-year plan to decommission and destroy 30,000 fishing vessels (7% of total commercial fleet). The program received $33 million dollars worth of funding and participation was voluntary. Most of boats that were scrapped were small and designed to stay close to shore. Another portion of the regulation prohibits the construction of a new boat for any purpose other than to replace a craft with a current license. 5,000 boats and licenses were reportedly discontinued in year one of the program, although the amount of commercial vessels in operation in 2003 and 2004 (as reported to the FAO by China) increased (FAO, 2007).
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