A qualitative appraisal of China’s efforts in fishing capacity management

This paper provides a critical review of some major efforts made by China to manage the fishing capacity of its marine capture fisheries. It begins by reviewing the key concepts and issues closely related to fishing capacity management. Following on this, a brief introduction to China’s marine capture fisheries is offered, especially the trends of its marine landings and marine fishing fleets and the status of fish stocks in waters under its jurisdiction. Next comes the main concern of the paper, i.e., some major actions recently initiated by China to deal with the overcapacity problem confronting it. The paper ends with conclusions and suggestions.