Aquaculture Impacts on China’s Marine Wild Fisheries Over the Past 30 Years

China is the world’s largest producer of aquaculture and capture fisheries. How this country develops its aquaculture sector and whether such development can relieve pressure on wild fisheries remain a contentious issue in the past and for the future. This study aims to provide a broad assessment on the impact of aquaculture development in different periods on marine wild fisheries on the basis of aquaculture and marine wild fish catch data from all the coastal provinces of China. China’s aquaculture and capture fisheries have undergone substantial changes. From 1989 to 2002, China’s aquaculture, especially mariculture, had a strong relationship with marine wild fisheries. However, from 2003 to 2018, the impact of mariculture was weakened, whereas that of freshwater aquaculture had increased. Although aquaculture still puts pressure on marine wild fisheries, China’s aquaculture is currently moving toward sustainable development pattern with low input and high output. These results provide the first statistical evidence on the effects of aquaculture development on marine wild fisheries and contribute to the sustainable management of China’s aquaculture and marine capture fisheries.

Enhancement and Aquaculture

Enhancement and Aquaculture. Fish stock enhancement involves growing small fish in a hatchery and releasing them in the wild to augment natural fish production. It is widely practiced for Pacific salmon and hundreds of other marine species, especially in China. Aquaculture is the raising of fish from egg to adult in ponds, net pens, or other controlled conditions, and its harvest now exceeds capture fisheries. Aquaculture impacts wild fish production through disease transmission, genetic impacts from escaped fish, and introduction of exotic species. As fish stocks decline and the political, social, and economic pains of ever-reducing harvests increases, the idea of hatcheries becomes irresistible. Why regulate fisheries when you can produce more fish in a hatchery?