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What is at stake? Status and threats to South China Sea marine fisheries

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Abstract

Governance of South China Sea (SCS) fisheries remains weak despite acknowledgement of their widespread overexploitation for the past few decades. This review incorporates unreported fish catches to provide an improved baseline of the current status and societal contribution of SCS marine fisheries, so that the socio-economic and ecological consequences of continued fisheries unsustainability may be understood. Potential fisheries contribution to food and livelihoods include 11–17 million t in fisheries catch and USD 12–22 × 109 in fisheries landed value annually in the 2000s, and close to 3 million jobs. However, overfishing has resulted in biodiversity and habitat loss, and altered ecosystem trophic structures to a ‘fished down’ state. The present situation reiterates the urgency for fisheries policies that simultaneously address multiple political, social, economic, and biological dimensions at regional, national, and local scales. Importantly, improved cooperation between SCS nations, particularly in overcoming territorial disputes, is essential for effective regional fisheries governance.

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Fig. 1

Source U.S. Energy Information Administration (2013)

Fig. 2

Source Sea Around Us Project (2015) (www.seaaroundus.org)

Fig. 3

Source National Fisheries Statistics of Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Thailand6; data for Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei, Hong Kong, and Singapore were extracted from SEAFDEC (2012)

Fig. 4

Source FAO FIGIS database (2015)

Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) are large, ecologically distinct regions of the world’s oceans that were developed to allow for collaborative management of marine resources in transnational areas.

  2. FIGIS website: http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/global-commodities-production/en.

  3. International Trade Centre website: www.intracen.org.

  4. Trade data may not consistently reflect the country of origin or final destination for given fish and fishery products.

  5. Singapore and Macau are not included in this summary due to their small fishing sectors and lack of information on their respective fisheries.

  6. National fisheries statistics can be found at the following websites: Malaysia (http://www.dof.gov.my/en/fishery-statistics); Indonesia (http://statistik.kkp.go.id/); Philippines (http://countrystat.bas.gov.ph/); Thailand (http://www.fisheries.go.th/it-stat/yearbook/); and Taiwan (http://www.fa.gov.tw/en/PublicationsYearbook/). Statistics for China were extracted from the annual China Fisheries Yearbooks, but these are not publicly accessible online.

  7. The FAO defines fish stock status as follows: Overexploited = the fishery is being exploited above the optimal yield, with no potential room for further expansion; Fully exploited = the fishery is operating at or close to its optimal yield, with no expected room for further expansion; Underexploited = undeveloped fishery with potential for expansion in total production.

  8. All SCS countries are parties to CITES except for Taiwan, which implements CITES regulations through its domestic legislation.

  9. Aichi Target 6 states that “By 2020 all fish and invertebrate stocks and aquatic plants are managed and harvested sustainably, legally and applying ecosystem based approaches, so that overfishing is avoided, recovery plans and measures are in place for all depleted species, fisheries have no significant adverse impacts on threatened species and vulnerable ecosystems and the impacts of fisheries on stocks, species and ecosystems are within safe ecological limits”.

  10. This suggestion was raised by participants at an expert workshop on South China Sea fisheries held in May 2015 in Hong Kong. The workshop was organised by the authors of this paper, and funded by ADM Capital Foundation.

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Acknowledgments

This review is an output of the OceanAsia Project funded by ADM Capital Foundation, Hong Kong. We thank participants of the OceanAsia Expert Workshop, held in Hong Kong in May 2015, for their comments on an earlier version of this review.

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Correspondence to Louise S. L. Teh.

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Teh, L.S.L., Witter, A., Cheung, W.W.L. et al. What is at stake? Status and threats to South China Sea marine fisheries. Ambio 46, 57–72 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0819-0

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