From the initial fishing moratorium of 2 months to the current 4 months of fishing moratorium, the biomass density of fishery resources in the Yellow Bohai Sea has increased significantly. But a month after opening the sea, overfishing will cause resources to gradually dry up relatively. Changes in fishery resources have led to deeper thinking -
How do we face this gift of the sea?
Qingdao Daily/ Guanhai News, September 1, 2019 Bidding farewell to the four-month fishing moratorium, 3,453 fishing boats in Qingdao rushed to the sea today.
The ocean brings employment and income to fishermen and provides a wealth of marine aquatic products for society. But over the years, the decline of marine fishery resources caused by overfishing has become a major problem in the mainland's offshore fishing industry. To this end, the mainland has adopted measures represented by the seasonal fishing moratorium, which has significantly increased the amount of offshore fishery resources. However, once fishing is started, large-scale and high-intensity fishing can easily return marine fishery resources to a relatively depleted state. In the face of this cyclical dilemma, Qingdao researchers have proposed the countermeasure of "marketization of the amount of fishable resources in marine fisheries" in order to promote the restoration of marine fishery resources to a benign state.
After an extra month of fishing, a variety of fish such as fish are once again formed into a fishing flood
Many people will find that the striped fish that were not often seen and caught in qingdao waters in previous years have become common since 2017. During the ambush, it is very easy to catch a few huge striped fish by sitting on a sightseeing fishing boat without having to be too far from the land. Tourists often enjoy the fun of marine tourism while lamenting that there are more fish in Qingdao's coastal waters.
Why do the striped fish suddenly "appear on a large scale" in the Yellow Bohai Sea, forming a fishing flood? Wu Qiang, an associate researcher at the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, gave the answer. "Banded fish generally return from the Yellow Sea to the Bohai Sea from April to June to spawn and breed, especially in May. In 2017, the mainland moved the fishing moratorium to a month, starting on May 1, which ensured the normal breeding and migration of migratory fish, thus restoring the fish resources of the Yellow Bohai Sea. He said.
The off-season fishing moratorium is an important measure to conserve fishery resources and protect the marine ecological environment. In 1995, the mainland officially implemented a seasonal fishing moratorium, starting from July 1 to September 1. A month was added and the starting time became June 1. Now add another month to May 1st. This gives a breath of relief to most fisheries in the Yellow Bohai Sea, which are not "trapped" by fishing boats during the breeding season in May.
Not just bringing fish. Since 2017, the mackerel, small yellow croaker, silver pomfret, Chinese shrimp, three-wart pike crab, etc., which are often eaten by the public, have all multiplied and grown rapidly during the off-season fishing moratorium in the Yellow Bohai Sea. Wu Qiang and other researchers found that about 40 species of migratory fish returned from the Yellow Sea to the Bohai Sea to spawn and breed, thanks to the seasonal fishing moratorium, these fish were able to reproduce and migrate normally. According to statistics, since 2017, the biomass density of fishery resources in the Bohai Sea has increased by 3-7 times compared with the pre-volt period, and the biomass density of fishery resources in the Yellow Sea has increased by 2-5 times. One more month off from fishing, with remarkable results.
A month after opening the sea, overfishing resulted in inefficient production
In daily life, marine aquatic products are so diverse and well-protected that almost no one notices a shortage. But the fishermen felt it in a different way. Engaged in fishing for more than ten years or even decades, many of them have faced the dilemma of "no fish to catch", which has improved with the introduction of the seasonal fishing policy, and has reappeared with the high-intensity fishing after the end of the seasonal fishing moratorium.
On the first day of Qingdao's opening of the sea in 2022, the fishermen interviewed generally believe that the first month after opening the sea is the golden period for offshore fishing. This is because after a four-month fishing moratorium, the fishery resources in the ocean have increased significantly, which is a good time to catch vigorously. However, many fishing boats rush up in a very short period of time, and fishery resources can easily be swept away. After one month, the overall catch will slowly decrease, and marine fishery resources will return to a relatively depleted state.
It's not just the fishermen's own experience. Based on the maritime survey, the researchers analyzed the interannual variation of the amount of marine fishery resources on the mainland and came to similar conclusions. The survey results show that before September, due to the effective implementation of policies such as fishing moratorium and stocking in the volt season, the amount of marine fishery resources on the mainland showed an upward trend; With the end of the off-season fishing moratorium, the catch increased, and the increase in fishing resources was quickly lost in 1-2 months. If overfishing continues, it means that the "principal" of fish in the ocean is also constantly withdrawn, and the final result is "no fish to catch".
"Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp" is the basic survival rule of marine life. However, due to long-term intensive fishing, the species of mainland offshore fisheries have been "miniaturized". Simply put, there are fewer and fewer big fish and more small fish (often low-value fish). Fishermen's fishing operations are increasingly inefficient (inefficient fishing) and they have to switch jobs or go to the deeper sea, which is richer in fishery resources, in order to make a living.
Experts: Advocate quota fishing and promote the benign recovery of fishery resources
How to maximize the advantages of the policy of fishing moratorium and breeding and stocking in the off-season? How can continental fisheries be promoted for sustainable development? Many researchers on the mainland are discussing it. Lu Kun, a professor at the School of Management of ocean university of China, put forward the proposal of "marketization of the amount of catchable resources in marine fisheries" in order to end the situation of disorderly fishing on the mainland.
Lu Kun divides marine fishery resources into retained amounts, derived amounts and catchable amounts, and believes that we should focus on increasing the amount of marine fishery resources on the mainland, and then steadily increase the rechargeable amount and catch, so as to fundamentally solve the problem of the decline of marine fishery resources on the mainland.
"The marketization of the amount of fishable resources in marine fisheries specifically refers to the unified and classified annual catchable quota of marine fisheries by the state under the premise of scientifically assessing and determining the total amount of fishable resources in marine fisheries, and then fairly distributing them to fishery fishermen." Lu Kun said fishermen can catch according to quotas and can also sell quotas. Correspondingly, enterprises or individuals can also purchase quotas to expand the scale of fishing. As the amount of resources available for fisheries increases, the quota will continue to increase. In these years, the ultimate goal of increasing the ownership of marine fisheries and increasing the amount of fishable resources has been achieved.
In fact, in the face of scarce and precious fish such as bluefin tuna, quota fishing initiatives have been implemented internationally. The fishing quotas purchased by each country determine the catch. Such measures can protect precious fish from rapid extinction due to overfishing.
"The marketization of the amount of fishable resources in marine fisheries is a systematic project, and it is necessary to establish an assessment mechanism for marine fishable resources, a mechanism for allocating marine fishing quotas, a trading mechanism for fishing quota platforms, and an effective supervision mechanism for marine fishery administration." Lu Kun hopes that through these measures, the mainland's marine fishery resources will be better restored to a benign state. (Qingdao Daily/Guanhai News Reporter Li Xunxiang/Wen Hanxing/Photo)