Fish community diversity in the middle continental shelf of the East China Sea

The status of fishery stocks in the coastal waters of China is far from ideal, mainly due to climate change and the impacts of human activities (e.g., pollution and overfishing). Thus, the restoration and protection of fishery resources have become critical and complex. The stability and balanced structure of the fish community is a basic foundation for the protection of fishery resources. Based on data collected from bottom trawls by the R/V Beidou in continental shelf of the East China Sea in November 2006 and February 2007, changes in the composition and diversity of fish species and functional groups were analyzed. The research area was divided into offshore waters and inshore waters by the two-way indicator species analysis (TWIA). The results showed that the dominant species were different between offshore waters and inshore waters and also varied with the survey time. The most abundant family was Sciaenidae and Teraponidae in November 2006, Sciaenidae, Engraulidae and Triglidae were most abundant in February 2007. The species belonged mainly to mobile piscivores (G6), benthivores/piscivores (G4), benthivores (G3) and planktivores (G1), and the dominant species in November 2006 were commercial species (e.g. Larimichthys polyactis and Trichiurus japonicus), but small-sized species were dominant in February 2007 (e.g., Harpadon nehereus, Benthosema pterotum, Champsodon capensis, and Acropoma japonicum). The species diversity showed a similar trend as the functional group diversity. Stations with higher diversity were mainly distributed in inshore waters in February 2007, whereas higher diversity was found in offshore waters in November 2006. The highest biomass and species number were found in G6 group, followed by the G4, G5 and G1 groups. The distribution of the number of individuals of each functional group showed the opposite trend as that of the biomass distribution. In addition, the size spectra were mainly concentrated around 3–29 cm, and the individual number of fish species gradually decreased with the increase in body size, but the relative biomass showed a moderate fluctuation in each size class. These changes showed that species with faster growth rate and earlier maturity age became dominant in continental shelf of the East China Sea. So the variations in biological characteristics of fish should be fully considered in maintaining sustainable utilization of fishery resource.