Review and prospect of theories of fisheries management and China’s practice

Fisheries management has always been a problem facing all fisheries countries worldwide.This article first analyzes the features of the fisheries in China, and points out that our country’s fisheries management tends to be more complex and difficult than any other country in the world. It goes on to describe the history of the China’s fisheries management and the development process of China’s fisheries policies, indicating the role of fisheries policies in guiding and promoting the industrial production during the whole development process. With Fisheries Law of the People’s Republic of China as the basic framework, China is thought to have initially formed a fisheries management system with a complete structure and powerful measures for constant improvement and reinforcement. By introducing main theories in fisheries management and reviewing principal literature on fisheries management studies conducted by Chinese scholars, the article highlights aquaculture management both as the focus of China’s fisheries management and as the core research field of fisheries management in future. Major regimes and measures of China’s fisheries management are summarized, with their corresponding effects being evaluated to a certain extent. China’s continuous introduction of advanced fisheries management philosophies over the past several decades, especially since the reform and opening up, plays an active role in securing the prosperity of the following five industries: aquaculture, fishing, processing and logistics, enhancement, and recreational fisheries; greater efforts are being made in fisheries ecological environment restoration; the capacity of law-based governance in fisheries has been significantly improved. However, due to the characteristics of China’s fisheries as well as the complex and uncertain nature of fisheries itself, certain prominent problems still remain in the country’s fisheries industry. With reference to relevant fisheries development planning, the article concludes with a prospect that China’s fisheries management will be steered towards the total catch control of fisheries resources and the intensification of conservation and ecological restoration of fisheries resources.