Intensification, regulation and diversification: The changing face of inland aquaculture in China

Abstract

Trends in aquatic food consumption were matched against farm production surveys within Hubei province and compared to official production data and statistics. Surveys showed that consumer tastes were changing to a much broader aquatic food menu as their spending power increased. Traditional aquaculture species were becoming less profitable due to reduced profit margins as input costs increased and consumption preferences changed. Consequently, many producers were diversifying their production to meet local demand. Some farmers were also de-intensifying by reducing commercial aquafeed inputs and reverting to more traditional methods of dyke-crop culture to optimise trade-offs between input costs and labour, and manage their risk more effectively. In addition, analysis of local data showed that wholesale changes were occurring to aquaculture production as environmental protection legislation took effect which reduced the growing area for carps considerably.

Impacts of COVID-19 on the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector in Developing Countries and Ways Forward

“…There is much burgeoning literature on the impacts of COVID-19; in the fisheries and aquaculture sector these studies particularly focus on local case studies in countries such as the USA [13], China [14], Canada [15], Indonesia [16], Malaysia [10], Kenya [10], Thailand [17], and Bangladesh [4,18,19]. However, a global perspective is still missing.…”

The impact of the COVID-19 on China's fisheries sector and its countermeasures

“…China is one of the largest fishing states, because it possesses a significant number of fleets and thus the capacity to fish in a lot of different areas ( Sua et al, 2021 ); it is also considered as world's largest aquaculture producer with over 60% of global world production in volume ( Little et al, 2021 ). To administer these resources and make them sustainable, China has formulated and promulgated a series of fishery laws, regulations, and rules since 1979.…”

Mapping Aquaculture Ponds for the Coastal Zone of Asia with Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Time Series

“…However, the expansion of aquaculture in low-lying, flat-topography coastal regions has also led to large-scale land use changes with various negative socio-economic and environmental effects: the enormous reclamation of land for fish and shrimp ponds, increasing use of antibiotics and pesticides, water pollution, the loss of valuable coastal wetlands, and the degradation of important ecosystems (due to increased salinization of soils and freshwater, wastewater discharge, and eutrophication of coastal waters), among other effects, result from rapidly growing aquaculture production [9][10][11]. Moreover, large amounts of nutrient-rich feed [12,13] and medication are applied in intensive aquaculture to achieve high stocking densities and increase production quantities, but they lead to increased nutrient input, eutrophication, and water pollution of the aquatic coastal ecosystems [13][14][15]. Consequently, sustainable aquaculture management is essential to reduce the growing ecological footprint of Asian aquaculture and a global challenge for future food security.…”