Aquaculture Industry in China: Current State, Challenges, and Outlook

Abstract

Aquaculture in China accounts for nearly 70% of world aquaculture production. Aquaculture, including a wide variety of freshwater and marine fishes, shellfish, crustaceans, and aquatic plants, has become one of the most vital primary industries and a center of economic activity within the local and global economies. Along with the development of aquaculture, concerns come about such problems in the industry such as aquatic pollution, disease, genetic degradation of aquaculture species, decline of comparative profitability, lack of knowledge on market risks, and financial crises. Thus, there is a need to acquire further knowledge on this industry and provide sound suggestions for its sustainable development. This review aims to identify the current state of and challenges facing the aquaculture industry in China and to provide some suggestions for its sustainable development.

Multilocus sequence typing revealed a clonal lineage of Aeromonas hydrophila caused motile Aeromonas septicemia outbreaks in pond-cultured cyprinid fish in an epidemic area in central China

“…The total area devoted to aquaculture increased from 2.86 million hectares in 1979 to 5.63 million hectares in 2008 in China. Meanwhile, total production rose from 1.23 to 34.13 million tons, garnering a 69.7% share of the total aquatic production, making China the only country in the world where aquaculture production exceeds the wild catch (Li et al, 2011;National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2009). With the rapid development of the aquaculture industry, motile aeromonad infections caused by A. hydrophila have become an increasingly prominent problem (Xiao et al, 2011;Nielsen et al, 2001;Xu et al, 1993).…”

Environmental mercury in China: A review

“…The fish sampled in most studies are fast-growing fish, which have lower Hg concentrations relative to their size because of growth dilution [100][101][102], and fish species that are low on the food chain, which have low biomagnification. In addition, most fish consumed in China are from aquaculture [103] and thus are fast growing and have a largely plant-based diet. Many of the studied reservoirs are also alkaline; thus, Hg methylation may be lower in these reservoirs compared with acidic lakes [104].…”

A Brief Answer: Why is China's Aquaculture Industry so Successful?

“…However, the boom in aquaculture can be seen with the transition to the market-driven economy in the late 1970s (Liao, 2000). During this period, technological and scientific advancement were heavily sponsored by the central government and ultimately paved the way for the industry"s large-scale production seen today (Cao et al, 2015;X. Li et al, 2011a).…”