AUTHOR=Wang Linlong , Lin Li , Liu Yang , Zhai Lu , Ye Shen 

TITLE=Fishery Dynamics, Status, and Rebuilding Based on Catch-Only Data in Coastal Waters of China

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2021

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.757503

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2021.757503

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=With its fishing fleets explosively increasing their fishing effort and resulting catch, China has become the largest contributor to marine fisheries in the world, but fishery composition and sustainability in China's seas have deteriorated. Limited information on fishery exploitation status encumbers effective resource management. In this study, a data-poor Monte Carlo method, the Catch-Maximum Sustainable Yield method (CMSY), was used to estimate the historical exploited dynamics and current stock status of ten Chinese economic marine fish stocks, which accounted for ~50% of total fish catches in the coastal waters and covered five functional groups (large, medium benthopelagic, large, medium, and small pelagic). Species Larimichthys crocea and Larimichthys polyactis had been subjected to over-fishing since the 1950s. The others showed a decreasing trend in biomass along with the explosively increasing fishing efforts since the 1990s. Benthopelagic fish experienced over-fishing pressure about a decade earlier than pelagic species. All the fish stocks investigated here were depleted in 2019 and most species were still facing high-fishing pressure. Also, a Schaefer model was used to assess stocks rebuilding status until 2030 under four exploitation scenarios, i.e., fishing mortality equals 0.5, 0.6, 0.8, or 0.95 times mortality capable of producing maximum sustainable yields (0.5 Fmsy, 0.6 Fmsy, 0.8 Fmsy, or 0.95 Fmsy). Most species stocks will recovery to the biomasses at the maximum sustainable yields (Bmsy), which indicated that reduction of fishing pressure was probably the most effective way for fishery recovery.