The Status of Marine Fisheries in East Asia

Book excerpt: The fisheries of China generate the largest catch in the world. However, these fisheries are in generally bad shape, notably due to lack of management systems based on rigorous studies on the dynamics of major stocks exploited by the fisheries of China and neighboring countries. This could be mitigated, at least in part, by the systematic application of newly developed methods for evaluating the status of exploited fish stocks for use in data-sparse situations, focusing on methods for estimating maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from catch informed by a combination of biological knowledge on the species (intrinsic rate of population increase, r, and carrying capacity, k) and what is known about the stock, for instance relative abundance indicators, e.g., catch per unit of effort. The aim of this Research Topic is to create an outlet for the studies that will result from the application of these modern methods to exploited stocks of East Asian marine fish, encouraging the rigorous evaluation of these stocks and providing a basis for their rebuilding, as required especially for Chinese stocks. This would lead to the creation of a cadre of fishery scientists knowledgeable in using the methods in question and interested in collaborating with colleagues in other regions with similar issues. Focusing on East Asia will reinforce to readers in `the West' that these fisheries are not a sideshow to the more interesting fisheries in Europe or North America, but a major source of seafood for people in East Asia. Indeed, the failure of these domestic fisheries would increase the impacts of distant-water fisheries from East Asia in other parts of the world.