STATUS: The page is almost complete. I am still waiting for relatively small amounts of information from a couple of people. Here is the most complete current draft. I have citations for all of the sources used in this page, but they are not listed here yet. -Todd
One of the great challenges standing in the way of saving the global fishery is the difficulty of identifying the specific goals of fishery management and the most useful methods for accomplishing them. This section of our proposal will discuss what fishery management should do, then review factors that need to be considered when making management decisions and the tools that can be used to implement them. Finally, we will look at the possibilities for ecosystem-based fisheries management and make some recommendations regarding fishery management practices.
Why do we manage fisheries?
The goal of fisheries management ought to be the creation and protection of sustainable fisheries. For purposes of this study, we define sustainable fishing as fishing at a level and in a manner that it is reasonably believed can be sustained indefinitely, assuming proper responses to changes in the ecosystem. A more precise and quantitative explanation is [here--link to writeup of fishing pressure explanation][].
Sustaining a Fishery: Factors to Consider
Controlling the exploitation of a commercially valuable fish stock is not the only task fisheries managers must accomplish, because fishing has many complex environmental impacts and is not the only influence on the status of the targeted fish stock.
One potentially environmentally disruptive aspect of fishing is by-catch, the accidental capture of unwanted fish or other animals. The by-catch is often dead when it is thrown overboard. In addition, some of the fish discarded alive later die from the effects of being captured. Sometimes species caught as by-catch are endangered. Fortunately, appropriate technology can help address the problem. For example, the by-catch of turtles in Australian fisheries [QUESTION] was reduced by 99% after the introduction of Turtle Excluder Devices. The same piece of equipment also reduced the by-catch of sharks by 91% (Catherine, Loneragan, Brewer, & Poiner, 2007).
A turtle escapes from a shrimp trawl net
source: NOAA Fisheries: Office of Protected Resources http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/teds.htm
Another issue that will become increasingly important to fisheries management is climate change. Different regions of the world must be considered separately, because climate change will affect each region in different ways (Harley, 2006).To effectively respond to global warming, management systems need to be flexible so that policy can adapt as the effects of climate change become more evident. See the "Business as Usual" and "Climate" sections for more on climate change projections.
Regulations: The Tools of Fisheries Management
Many different kinds of regulations can be used to manage fishing. Most possible fishery regulations can be grouped into one of three basic categories. Input controls are regulations restricting how much, how hard, and with what equipment fishing can be done, and output controls limit how much fish can be taken. The third category, technical measures, consists of regulations that do not fit into either of the other categories, such as closing particular areas of a fishery (Sutinen & Soboil, 2003).
One common form of input control is licensing of fishers, which attempts to restrict the catch by limiting who can fish in the first place (Kura, Revenga, Hoshino, & Mock, 2004). Other forms of input control include restricting the amount of time fishers can spend fishing and regulating the kinds of fishing gear that can be used (Sutinen & Soboil, 2003).
The simplest kind of output control is a limit on the total amount of fish that can be caught in a certain time period, often a year or fishing season. Called a total allowable catch (TAC) limit, such a regulation typically imposes a cap on the total mass of fish that is allowed to be taken (OECD, 2001). Many of the other output controls are variations of or additions to a TAC limit. Shares of an overall TAC limit can be divided among fishers, fishing vessels, or fishing communities. These schemes will be considered in more detail below.
Finally, examples of common technical measures are limitations on the size of fish that can be taken and restrictions on where fishing can be done (Sutinen & Soboil, 2003).
All of these possibilities have advantages and disadvantages, and perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that no single measure is likely to succeed: nature and human behavior are too complex for that to be possible (Stefansson, 2003). Instead, management tools must be integrated to keep a fishery sustainable.
Comparing and Contrasting Management Tools
The mere existence of management in a fishery does not guarantee that it will be sustained. The management scheme used must always keep the catch within sustainable levels, and not all management measures are equally good at doing this. For example, limitations on total fishing effort consistently fail to factor in the effects of technology-driven efficiency increases. Worse, the effort limitation encourages fishers to invest in such efficiency improvements (Stefansson, 2003). [INCORPORATE BRIAN'S MATERIAL ON INPUT CONTROLS?]
Even the apparently simple and effective total allowable catch quota often fails: 16 of 22 TAC-managed fisheries analyzed in a study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development had seen fish stocks decline or collapse while the system was in use (Morgan, 2001). A serious failure of TAC quotas is that they encourage a phenomenon called the race-to-fish. Because (at least in theory) only a limited number of fish is allowed to be taken from the fishery, all the participants fish as much as possible until the TAC is reached, in hopes of getting the largest shares possible of the total catch for themselves. In two extreme Canadian cases, the entire year's TAC was caught in a few days. Among the many problems caused by such a system are dangerous fishing practices and the appearance of large amounts of fish on the market at once, which depresses the price received by fishers (Kura, Revenga, Hoshino, & Mock, 2004). Wasteful overinvestment in fishing and processing equipment also occurs (Sutinen & Soboil, 2003).
Individual quota systems attempt to address some of the flaws of the TAC-only system. Under such schemes, shares of the total allowable catch are dividing among the participants in the fishery. When the quota shares can be bought, sold, leased, or otherwise traded, the system is called an individual transferable quota (ITQ) (Kura, Revenga, Hoshino, & Mock, 2004). Because the total allowable catch is pre-divided among the fishers (or other quota share owners), the race to fish is eliminated.
Although have been reasonably effective in stopping the race-to-fish and keeping the catch below the TAC limit, they are not perfect (Sutinen & Soboil, 2003). Criticisms include the potential for consolidation of the quota share in a few hands and the issue of finding a fair way to allocate the quota initially (Committee to Review Individual Fishing Quotas, Ocean Studies Board, Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources, National Research Council, 1999). Also, ITQs have sometimes encouraged fishers to discard low value catches in order to save their quota share for more valuable catches (Kura, Revenga, Hoshino, & Mock, 2004). But these problems are addressable with further regulations: A New Zealand ITQ program includes restrictions on how much quota share any single entity can own, and discarding could be banned as it is in Norway.
Even if all fishery participants follow the rules are followed perfectly, both conventional TAC and ITQ schemes can still fail if managers mistakenly set the TAC too high. The stock can then be seriously overexploited, as occurred in the Newfoundland cod fishery. Complicating the problem, current stock assessment methods often overestimate stock abundance during periods of decline. Therefore, overestimation of stock abundance results in a 'vicious circle' in which overexploitation leads to more rapid decline, which in turn causes scientists to overestimate stock abundance (Walters, 2004). [GET QUESTIONS ABOUT STOCK ASSESSMENT ANSWERED]
Rules constraining the size and sex of fish that can be taken are not useful unless the fish that must be discarded survive being caught. Too often, this is not the case (Kura, Revenga, Hoshino, & Mock, 2004). [MORE COMMENTS ON OTHER SYSTEMS?]
Ecosystem-based Fishery Management
Ecosystem-based fishery management (EBFM) is an ambitious proposal to more effectively manage fish populations and their ecosystems. It has been widely touted by the scientific community as essential for healthy, sustainable marine life. Current fishery management regulations largely focus on controlling the population levels of specific target species; EBFM recognizes the need for a more holistic approach to fishery management that focuses on the health of entire ecosystems - target species, non-target species, and the natural environment (Pikitch, et al., 2004). Fish populations do not exist in isolation - they are part of complex marine ecosystems that contain numerous species. Ensuring sustainable harvesting of marine species requires not merely knowledge of the biology of a specific species, but also an understanding of its place in the ecosystem - its habitat, food, predators, and other relevant characteristics (Ecosystem Principles Advisory Panel, 1998).
While the idea of EBFM is not new, its implementation has been slow. Due to a lack of governmental pressure [REWORD] to adopt this new management style and a poor definition of exactly what EBFM is, the application of the principles of EBFM has been sporadic and inconsistent (Ecosystem Principles Advisory Board, 1998). Just now are fishery management agencies realizing the necessity of transitioning away from single-species based approaches to fisheries management and towards EBFM (Marasco, et al., 2007). While the actual implementation of EBFM policies remains in its infancy, the need for EBFM has been largely recognized by officials in North America, Europe, and Australia (Hall and Mainprize, 2004).
EBFM is by no means a well-defined process with set protocols and formulas - the complexity of ecosystems makes this impossible. Understanding how an ecosystem functions is an enormous challenge in itself - complex food webs are difficult to comprehend, natural fluctuations in temperature and currents affect population levels and distributions, and ecosystems vary greatly based on locations and proximity to shore (Hayden and Conkling, 2007). Developing effective policies will remain difficult, since thoroughly understanding ecosystem dynamics is extremely hard.
Another problem is that EBFM cannot be effective without up-to-date scientific data on population levels and ecosystem conditions. The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy estimated that effective U.S. implementation of EBFM would require doubling the current $650 million of annual federal funding for marine research (U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, 2004). Furthermore, ecosystems do not follow jurisdictional boundaries that humans have established (Ecosystem Principles Advisory Panel, 1998). Our society is established such that marine policy is implemented in artificial jurisdictional regions, while ecosystems readily cross these boundaries. Effective EBFM policy will require significant regional and international cooperation.[EXAMPLES FROM SARAH?]
Conclusions
In view of all of the above information, our group's recommendations are as follows:
We cannot emphasize enough the need to manage cautiously. None of the regulatory tools are "silver bullets" and fishery managers must make sure that the systems they create are complex enough to be truly effective. Too often relevant biological knowledge is not sufficiently taken into account in management decisions (Young, et al., 2006). This is a shame, because physiology and other non-population aspects of fish biology can make significant contributions to management. For example, physiological knowledge can be used to predict migratory mortality of Pacific salmon (Cooke, et al., 2006), which would be useful information to have when setting a total allowable catch. The evolutionary effects of fishing (Helfman, 2007) should also be considered by managers.
Despite the need for management schemes appropriately customized for each fishery, it is still possible to give advice on the use of the various management tools. Input controls are not enough, some form of output control must be used. The total allowable catches figures that are needed to run an output control system should be calculated conservatively.
One way to do this is to use a value called the proven production potential. The proven production potential is equal to "the target exploitation rate times the minimum stock size that the industry can demonstrate unequivioc[QUOTE ISSUE]ally to be present by using direct stock-size assessment/counting methods" (Walters, 2004). In such a system, the government is responsible for calculating the sustainable exploitation rate, while fishers themselves along with governmental agencies are responsible for assessing the minimum stock size by assessing the minimum fish density. Such as system creates an incentive for fishers to invest in stock assessment and also prevents overestimation of stock abundance. [MATERIAL ON EFFIICIENCY?]
Although individual transferable quotas are not perfect, they are clearly effective in limiting the amount of fishing done in a fishery. Therefore, their further use is encouraged. However, we also urge those considering instituting ITQs to carefully consider and attempt to address problems such as quota allocation and consolidation and undesirable environmental effects.
In the long term, it may become possible to manage many fisheries by appropriate taxation of catches. Further details of this proposal are [here--LINK TO TAXES SECTION OF SITE].
The effects of fishing on whole ecosystems must be considered as part of any long-term program for creating sustainable fisheries. But until scientists and politicians develop more concrete methods of translating ecological knowledge into policy, EBFM will remain more of a goal than a practice. The need for EBFM has gained widespread acceptance; now the world must do the work necessary to make it happen.
A Look at China
Our planet is a very big place, and for a huge percent of its inhabitants fish is a very important part of their lives and livelihood. One place in particular where this holds true is China. It would be irresponsible to ignore the effect that China has on the world fishing situation, with a population of about 1.3 billion people (CIA World Factbook, 2007).
Background
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).
Aquaculture ponds in Nanlin, Hainan, China (Heeb, 2000)
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).
Since the 1960s, global yearly fish consumption has increased from 9.0 kg per capita to 16.5 kg per capita in 2003, and the main reason for this increase is China's huge increase in fish production. Since 1994 China's share of worldwide fish production has increased from 21% to 34%, and in 2003 its per capita consumption was around 25.8kg. If China is ignored, global per capita fish supply has remained steady since the 1980s at about 14.2 kg (FAO, 2007).
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).
In recent years China has increased it's supply of shrimp to Europe, mainly because the EU reduced its importation restrictions. In fact, China has become the top supplier of shrimp to Spain and is an increasingly major supplier of shrimp to other European nations (FAO, 2007).
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).
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 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 the 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).
Also, capture fishing has declined by 13% since 2001 due to fleet reduction programs designed to curb overfishing. Part of these fleet reduction policies include discontinuing the use of old vessels and training out-of-work fishermen in aquaculture. Still, there are a larger number of fishermen than fish farmers: 8.5 million to 4.5 million, respectively (FAO, 2007).
Evidently, China must do much more of this type of regulation and management in order to make the impact on their fishing industry that is necessary to save the oceans. Also, steps must be taken to make sure that the booming aquaculture industry operates in an environmentally friendly manner, and that any growth in aquaculture includes provisions for environmentally friendly operation. Eventually, overall production of fish must decrease.
Implementation of Mission:2011
International Treaty
The first and most important step that must be accomplished if China's fisheries are to become sustainable is to convince China to ratify our treaty. China's history in matters of international cooperation is inconclusive, but with regard to the fisheries problem there is considerable evidence that the nation considers the health of the oceans to be a problem that is worth some concern. China has shown this concern not only by the measures it has already implemented with regard to decommissioning boats, but by signing and ratifying the Law of the Sea treaty that set up many important initial guidelines for fisheries management. We recognize that international cooperation is based on negotiation and compromise. China's previous cooperation lends credence to the belief that with proper persuasion and presentation, a satisfactory agreement can be reached that will still advance the ecological goals of our solution. This was the reason that we decided to focus our solution on the health of the fish and their habitat-fish can not look out for themselves, while humans can. Any solution negotiated and agreed upon by people will by nature not be as beneficial to any creature as much as it is to people. One could say that our solution as factored in a certain amount of room for alteration without compromising our core goals.
Tax
Taxation, as an integral part of our long-term solution, will be implemented in all countries who ratify the treaty, China included if it ratifies. Therefore, the team of biologists and economists who determine the tax will analyze the populations in which Chinese fishermen generally fish in order to model first the quantity of the maximum sustainable catch level and then the tax necessary to maintain this.
Fishing Technology
The implementation of this portion of our plan in China will be consistent with our general plan. This includes setting a time frame in which fishermen begin shifting to more environmentally sound practices and then progresses to phasing out all devastating technology such as trawlers and replacing them with more advanced versions that minimize ecological damage. Fish tracking and data collection technologies will also be utilized to improve the quality of information that scientists are able to gather about the status of each fish population, information that will be applied to devising the most effective tax possible. Funding for these transformations will come from tax revenue supplied by ratification of the treaty.
Aquaculture
As elaborated above, China has a very large and productive aquaculture industry. In order for this industry to remain productive however, it must be brought up to an environmental standard at which both the fish it produces and the people it feeds will be healthy. Our aquaculture plans can be applied to China's aquaculture to help it reach an acceptable level. One innovation proposed by Mission:2011 is that of mobile fish cages, which promote the health of captive fish by allowing them to live in way that provides more of the benefits of the ocean. Also, selection of fish to reduce the need for antibiotics and the use of a variety of aquaculture methods will increase the overall health of fish produced in China's capture fisheries.
Education
This element is just as important in China as in anywhere else in the world. There are many ways in which the message that fisheries are in danger can be disseminated, including but not limited to media, international conventions and competitions, required curricula, or any of the other education possibilities presented in the education portion of this report.
References
CIA World Factbook. (2007). China. Retrieved 11/22/2007 from CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html#People.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2007). The state of world fisheries and aquaculture 2006. Rome: Communication Division FAO.
Heeb, Johannes. (2000). Waste water use in southern China. Seecon Innovations For sustainable Development. Retrieved November 23, 2007 from http://www.seecon.ch/englisch/en_english/en_projects/en_southern_china.html
A Look at China
Our planet is a very big place, and for a huge percent of its inhabitants fish is a very important part of their lives and livelihood. One place in particular where this holds true is China. It would be irresponsible to ignore the effect that China has on the world fishing situation, with a population of about 1.3 billion people (CIA World Factbook, 2007).
Background
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).
Aquaculture ponds in Nanlin, Hainan, China (Heeb, 2000)
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).
Since the 1960s, global yearly fish consumption has increased from 9.0 kg per capita to 16.5 kg per capita in 2003, and the main reason for this increase is China's huge increase in fish production. Since 1994 China's share of worldwide fish production has increased from 21% to 34%, and in 2003 its per capita consumption was around 25.8kg. If China is ignored, global per capita fish supply has remained steady since the 1980s at about 14.2 kg (FAO, 2007).
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).
In recent years China has increased it's supply of shrimp to Europe, mainly because the EU reduced its importation restrictions. In fact, China has become the top supplier of shrimp to Spain and is an increasingly major supplier of shrimp to other European nations (FAO, 2007).
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).
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 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 the 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).
Also, capture fishing has declined by 13% since 2001 due to fleet reduction programs designed to curb overfishing. Part of these fleet reduction policies include discontinuing the use of old vessels and training out-of-work fishermen in aquaculture. Still, there are a larger number of fishermen than fish farmers: 8.5 million to 4.5 million, respectively (FAO, 2007).
Evidently, China must do much more of this type of regulation and management in order to make the impact on their fishing industry that is necessary to save the oceans. Also, steps must be taken to make sure that the booming aquaculture industry operates in an environmentally friendly manner, and that any growth in aquaculture includes provisions for environmentally friendly operation. Eventually, overall production of fish must decrease.
Implementation of Mission:2011
International Treaty
The first and most important step that must be accomplished if China's fisheries are to become sustainable is to convince China to ratify our treaty. China's history in matters of international cooperation is inconclusive, but with regard to the fisheries problem there is considerable evidence that the nation considers the health of the oceans to be a problem that is worth some concern. China has shown this concern not only by the measures it has already implemented with regard to decommissioning boats, but by signing and ratifying the Law of the Sea treaty that set up many important initial guidelines for fisheries management. We recognize that international cooperation is based on negotiation and compromise. China's previous cooperation lends credence to the belief that with proper persuasion and presentation, a satisfactory agreement can be reached that will still advance the ecological goals of our solution. This was the reason that we decided to focus our solution on the health of the fish and their habitat-fish can not look out for themselves, while humans can. Any solution negotiated and agreed upon by people will by nature not be as beneficial to any creature as much as it is to people. One could say that our solution as factored in a certain amount of room for alteration without compromising our core goals.
Tax
Taxation, as an integral part of our long-term solution, will be implemented in all countries who ratify the treaty, China included if it ratifies. Therefore, the team of biologists and economists who determine the tax will analyze the populations in which Chinese fishermen generally fish in order to model first the quantity of the maximum sustainable catch level and then the tax necessary to maintain this.
Fishing Technology
The implementation of this portion of our plan in China will be consistent with our general plan. This includes setting a time frame in which fishermen begin shifting to more environmentally sound practices and then progresses to phasing out all devastating technology such as trawlers and replacing them with more advanced versions that minimize ecological damage. Fish tracking and data collection technologies will also be utilized to improve the quality of information that scientists are able to gather about the status of each fish population, information that will be applied to devising the most effective tax possible. Funding for these transformations will come from tax revenue supplied by ratification of the treaty.
Aquaculture
As elaborated above, China has a very large and productive aquaculture industry. In order for this industry to remain productive however, it must be brought up to an environmental standard at which both the fish it produces and the people it feeds will be healthy. Our aquaculture plans can be applied to China's aquaculture to help it reach an acceptable level. One innovation proposed by Mission:2011 is that of mobile fish cages, which promote the health of captive fish by allowing them to live in way that provides more of the benefits of the ocean. Also, selection of fish to reduce the need for antibiotics and the use of a variety of aquaculture methods will increase the overall health of fish produced in China's capture fisheries.
Education
This element is just as important in China as in anywhere else in the world. There are many ways in which the message that fisheries are in danger can be disseminated, including but not limited to media, international conventions and competitions, required curricula, or any of the other education possibilities presented in the education portion of this report.
References
CIA World Factbook. (2007). China. Retrieved 11/22/2007 from CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html#People.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2007). The state of world fisheries and aquaculture 2006. Rome: Communication Division FAO.
Heeb, Johannes. (2000). Waste water use in southern China. Seecon Innovations For sustainable Development. Retrieved November 23, 2007 from http://www.seecon.ch/englisch/en_english/en_projects/en_southern_china.html