Long-term changes in fish community structure in the Bohai Sea, China

Response of coastal marine eco-environment to river fluxes into the sea: A case study of the Huanghe (Yellow) River mouth and adjacent waters

“…The same phenomenon occurred throughout Bohai Sea, where the mean catch per hour was 93 kg haul -1 in 1959, then dropped to 85.2 kg haul -1 in 1982, 104.3 kg haul -1 in 1992, and further to 3.7 kg haul -1 in 1998 (Jin, 2004).…”

“…The relative biomass (mean catch) in 1998 declined correspondingly to 4.0%, 4.3% and 3.6% of that in the previous surveys (Jin, 2004).…”

“…Any large decrease in river discharge would inevitably influence primary 10 production in the deltaic area and thereby affect fish community structure, biomass, density and biodiversity (Zhu et al, 1996 and2001;Zhu and Tang, 2002;Jin andDeng, 1999 andJin, 2004). As early as the 1960s, some Chinese fishery experts observed that inter-annual variation in river runoff was a major factor affecting local fish catches (YSFRI, 1960).…”

Jellyfish blooms in China: Dominant species, causes and consequences

“…Moreover, the community structure of fishery resources have changed in Chinese Seas due to the overfishing. The dominant species within the fishery resources shifted from economically important high-value demersal species to the low-value small pelagic species in the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea Jin, 2004;Chen et al, 2008). Japanese anchovy Engraulis japonicus is a small planktivorous pelagic and the most abundant fish species in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea , but it has shown a sharp decline following the introduction of pair-trawler fishing in 1989 (Jin et al, 2001;Tang et al, 2003;Zhao et al, 2003;Fig.…”

“…and climate change are all contributors to jellyfish blooms (Arai, 2001;Purcell, 2005;Graham and Bayha, 2007;Purcell et al, 2007;Uye, 2008;Richardson et al, 2009). The marine environment of China has deteriorated significantly over recent decades, particularly in coastal areas, due to the impact of rapid economic development, increased population and the associated consequences of habitat loss, eutrophication, pollution and overfishing Tang et al, 2003;Jin, 2004;Liu and Diamond, 2005). For example, the population living in the coastal regions of China increased to 529 million in 2000 from 243 million in 1952 (National Census Reports of China, 2000).…”