4. MARINE RESOURCES MANAGEMENT FOR SEA FARMING AND RANCHING

4.1 Survey of Marine Bio-Resources
4.2 Legislation for Management and Protection of Aquatic Resources
4.3 Research on Genetics and Biodiversity
4.4 Disease Prevention and Health Management
4.5 Marine Habitat Improvement
4.6 Reorganization of the Fishery Sector

The seas of China cover a huge area from the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea until the South China Sea. There is no main warm or cold current passing through these areas and there is no strong upwelling. Therefore, the distribution and configuration of existing marine organisms are rather specialized and limited. In comparison with the majority of the world fishing grounds, Chinese marine resources are characterized by a relatively greater number of species and smaller biomass.

Since the 1980s and particularly in the 1990s, research on marine resources was intensified. On the basis of results, measures for the management of marine resources were taken into three directions: (i) implementation of a survey of existing marine bio-resources; (ii) formulation of the legislation necessary for managing and protecting natural aquatic resources; and (iii) intensification of research on genetics and biodiversity of these resources

In addition, measures were taken in three other fields: (i) disease prevention and health management for farmed species; (ii) marine habitat improvement; and (iii) reorganization of the fishery sector..

4.1 Survey of Marine Bio-Resources

Since 1950, the Chinese government became increasingly interested in supporting research on marine fishery resources and several reports were published until the 1960s. This provided important data for genetic resources management and biodiversity protection. In 1979, the State Council approved the “Report of the National Workshop on Agricultural Resources Investigations and Agricultural Zoning”. Accordingly, in 1980, the National Bureau of Aquatic Products nominated a group of experts to carry out a detailed survey of existing fishery resources and their regional organization.

Survey results for the Guangdong Province may be summarized as follows:

• Background of the survey: the “National investigation of fishery resources and planning of fishery areas and research” was issued by the former National Bureau of Aquatic Products in January 1980.
• Key issues: types of intertidal mudflats, environmental conditions in shallow seas, resources distribution and status of biomass utilization.
• Purposes: to provide objective and scientific data for the rational utilization of mudflat resources and the identification of species suitable for farming.
• Duration: five years, from 1980 to 1985
• Results of the survey (Guangdong Province):
  • Mudflats resources: 327 phytoplankton species, 236 zooplankton species, 1027 species living in mud-flats including 29 coelenterates, 92 annelids, 362 molluscs, 186 arthropods, 61 echinoderms, 41 fish and 249 macroalgae.
  • Shallow-sea resources: 1023 benthic organisms including 52 coelenterates, 68 annelids, 302 molluscs, 217 arthropods, 84 echinoderms, 204 fish and 88 macroalgae.
  • Measurement of horizontal and vertical distributions of organisms
  • Measurement of the biomass present in different zones
  • Species or groups of species suitable for farming:
    • Fish (15): Mugil cephalus, Chanos chanos, Sparus latus, Sparus macrocephalus, Rhabdosargus sarba, Epinephelus spp., Lates calcarifer, Lateobrax japonicus, Siganus spp., Clupanodon punctatus, Bostrichthys sinensis, Boleophthalmus pectinirostris, Hippocampus spp., Anguilla japonica and Cynoglossus.
    • Shrimp (9): Penaeus chinensis, P. merguiensis, P. penicillatus, P. japonicus, P. monodon, Metapenaeus ensis, M. joyneri, M. affinis and P. burkenroadi..
    • Lobster (4): Panulirus stimpsoni, P. ornatus, P. homarus and P. versicolor.
    • Crab (4): Scylla serrata, Portunus pelagicus, P. trituberculatus and P. sanguinolentus.
    • Molluscs (29): Tegillarca granosa, Scapharca subcrenata, Perna viridis, Pinctada martensii, Pinctada maxima, Pinna pectinata, Chlamys nobilis, Amussium pleuronectes, Ostrea gigas, Ostrea rivularis, Meretrix meretrix, Ruditapes philippinensis, Coelomactra antiquate, Sinonovacula constricata, Solen grandis, Haliotis diversicolor, etc.
    • Sea cucumber (10): Stichopus chloronotus, S. variegates, Holothuria scabra, H. atra, H. leucospolota, H. nobilis, Actinopyga maeritiana, Thelenota ananas, etc.
    • Sea urchin (1): Anthocidaris crassispina
    • Sandy worm (1): Sipunculus nudus
    • Seaweed (6): Porphyra spp., Gelediella acerosa, Gelidium spp., Gracilaria spp., Euchema spp. and Sargassum spp.

This survey of the marine fishery resources provided valuable data for policy making, design of research projects and future investments. It was also proved that it contributed significantly to the stable development of sea farming and sea ranching in China.

4.2 Legislation for Management and Protection of Aquatic Resources

Table 32. Main legislation issued by the Chinese government

Bylaws and regulations	Issued by	Year of issue
Temporary Bylaw on Reproduction and Protection of Fishery Resources (Draft)	Ministry of Fisheries	1957
Trial Measures on Reproduction and Protection of Penaeus chinensis in the Bohai Zone	Drawn up by Ministry of Fisheries; Approved/issued by State Council	1962
Direction on Active Protection and Rational Utilization of Wild Animal Resources	State Council	1962
Survey on Marine Fishery Resources	Organized by Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry	1971
Summary on Prevention and Treatment of Pollution in Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea	Report approved by State Council	1977
Bylaw on Reproduction and Protection of Fishery Resources	State Council	1979
Notification on “Standards of Water quality for the Fishery Industry”	State Council Leading Team for Environmental Protection, State Committee of Construction, State Committee of Planning, General Bureau of Fisheries	1979
Regulations on the Reproduction and Protection of Fishery Resources in the Bohai Area	General Bureau of Fisheries	1981
Law on Environmental Protection of Sea and Ocean in China	Adopted by 5th Standing Committee of National People’s Congress	1982
Levy and its Use for the Propagation and Protection of Fishery Resources	Drawn up by Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, and National Bureau of Materials. Approved by State Council.	1988
Law on Protection of Wild Animals	President Yang Shangkun	1988
Administrative Measures for Natural Protection Zones of Aquatic Plants and Animals	Ministry of Agriculture	1997

As early as the 1950s, the Chinese government turned its attention to the protection of natural resources. In 1951, the State Council approved the “Temporary Fishery Bylaw for the Mid South Region” and the “Temporary Regulations on the Reproduction and Protection of Aquatic Plants and Animals in the Mid South Region”. Later, a series of important regulations and bylaws were also approved and issued, as shown in Table 32.

The regulations and bylaws listed above clearly show that the protection of natural resources, including fishery resources, and the conservation of their biodiversity have been part of China’s basic policy for development.

On the basis of this legislation, fishery authorities drew up and issued a series of measures for the protection of spawning grounds and of areas used by larvae and juveniles. This played an important role for ensuring the sustainable development of the fishery industry.

4.3 Research on Genetics and Biodiversity

To ensure the protection of natural resources, it was also necessary to have a basic knowledge of existing indigenous species, of exotic species and of their valuable varieties. At present, Laminaria, Porphyra, flounder, Japanese perch and hard-shell clam have been well studied, which should help protecting these natural resources and providing excellent varieties for mariculture. Research was also carried out on genetic improvement such as polyploid breeding and on karyotype determination for economically important mollusc and fish species (Tables 33 and 34).

In the 1960s, several new varieties of Laminaria japonica were bred, with new characteristics such as higher level of iodine and better growth rate. This enabled China to eliminate a serious iodine shortage and to develop the seaweed processing industry. Since the 1990s, polyploid varieties of abalone, oyster and scallop were produced. Such research benefited mariculture and increased seafood production.

Table 33. Karyotypes of selected marine molluscs

(st type calculated in double-arm)

ORDER	Family	Species	2n	Karyotype formula	NF
ARCHAEOGASTROPODA	Haliotidae	Haliotis discus hannai	36	22m+14sm	72
NEOGASTROPODA	Buccinidae	Neptunea arthritica cumingii	60	30m+22sm+8st	112
		Buccinum pemphigum	30	16m+10sm+4st	56
		Plicifusus scissuratus	34	20m+10sm+4st	64
ARCOIDA	Arcidae	Scapharca sp.	38	12m+20sm+6st	76*
		S. subcrenata	38	14m+22sm+2st	76*
		Tegillarca granosa	38	28m+10sm	76
MYTILOIDA	Mytilidae	Mytilus edulis	28	12m+10sm+6st	50
		M. coruscus	28	12m+10sm+6st	50
	Pectinidae	Chlamys farreri	38	6m+10sm+22st	54
	Ostreidae	Crassostrea talienwhanensis	20	20m	40
		Crassostrea sp.	20	12m+8sm	40
PTERIOIDA	Pteriidae	Pinctada martensii	28	14m+6sm+6st+2t	48
		P. maxima	28	16m+4sm+6st+2t	48
		P. margaritifera	28	14m+6sm+8st	48
		P. nigra	28	4m+4st+20t	32
		P. radiata	28	4m+4st+20t	32
		P. chemnitzi	22	8m+2sm+2st+10t	32
VENEROIDA	Solenidae	Solen strictus	38	30m+6sm+2t	74
		Sinonovacula constricta	38	26m+6sm+2st+4t	76
	Veneridae	Meretrix meretrix	38	18m+20sm	76
		Ruditapes philippinarum	38	28m+10sm	76

Table 34. Karyotypes of selected marine fish

ORDER	Family	Species	2n	Karyotype formula	NF
ANGUILLIFORMES	Congridae	Conger myriaster	38	8m+10st+20t	56
				10m+10sm+18t	58
MUGILIFORMES	Mugilidae	Mugil cephalus	48	48t	48
		Liza haematocheila	48	48t	48
		Lateolabrax japonicus	48	48t	48
	Serranidae	Epinephelus sexfasciatus	48	2sm+46t	50
		E. awoara	48	48t	48
		E. fario	48	14m,sm+34st,t	62
	Sciaenidae	Nibea albiflora	48	48t	48
		Sciaenops ocellatus	48	48t	48
PERCIFORMES		Pagrosomus major	48	2st+46t	48
	Sparidae	Sparus macrocephalus	48	4m+4sm+2st+38t 6m+4sm+38t	56 58
		S. latus	48	4m+2sm+4st+38t	54
	Pomadasyidae	Hapalogenys mucronatus	48	2m+8sm+14st+24t	58
		H. nitens	48	2m+8sm+2st+36t	58
	Stichaeidae	Ernogrammus hexagrammus	48	48t	48
		Thunnus alalunga	48	2m+4sm+42t	54
	Thunnidae	T. albacora	48	2m+2sm+2st+42t	52
		Katsuwonus pelamis	48	48t	48
	Gobiidae	Tridentiger trigonocephalus	44	10m+28sm+2st+4t	82
		Chaenogobius annularis	44	20m+22sm+2t	86
		Glossgobius fasciatopunctatus	46	16sm+6st+24t	62
		Synechogobius hasta	44	2m+42st,t	46
	Periophthalmidae	Boleophthalmus pectinirostris	46	2st+44t	46
		Sebastes schlegeli	48	2m+46t	50
	Scorpaenidae	S. hubbsi	48	3m+2st+43t (fem)	51
		S. nigricans	48	2m+46t	50
		Sebatiscus marmoratus	48	2m+46t	50
SCORPAENIFORMES	Hexagrammidae	Agrammus agrammus	48	8m+32sm+8st (fem)	88
				7m+33sm+8st (male)	88
		Hexagrammos otakii	48	6m+16sm+20st+6t	70
	Platycephalidae	Platycephalus indicus	48	2m+8sm+2st+36t	58
	Paralichthyidae	Paralichthys olivaceus	48	48t	48
		Pseudorhombus cinnamomeus	48	48t	48
		Pleuronichthys cornutus	48	12m+2sm+34t	62
PLEURONECTIFORMES		Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae	48	48t	48
	Pleuronectidae	Kareius bicoloratus	48	48t	48
		Microstomus achne	48	48t	48
TETRAODONTIFORMES	Aluteridae	Navodon septentrinalis	40	40t	40
	Tetraodontidae	Fugu rubripes	44	20m,sm+24st,t	64

4.4 Disease Prevention and Health Management

Since the 1980s, the spread of viral diseases of penaeid shrimp resulted in major losses of production world-wide. As this affected fishery sustainable development, interested authorities, researchers and investors concentrated their efforts on finding a solution to the problem.

In China, production of farmed penaeid shrimp suddenly declined from over 200 000 mt in 1992 to 80 000 mt in 1993. Even though important funds were invested in research, shrimp production never reached its highest historical record again. Almost all other farmed species such as marine fish, scallop, oyster and seaweed were also affected by diseases, at various intensity levels. Financial losses exceeded one milliard RMB annually. These diseases were diagnosed as being caused by a wide variety of pathogens, ranging from bacteria to viruses, from fungi to parasites.

These disasters occurred for three main reasons:

• Overexploitation in some areas of some species, such as penaeid shrimp
• Environmental deterioration caused by external factors, such as industrial pollution, and from aquaculture itself, e.g. from inshore cage culture of finfish
• Lack of knowledge on diseases of farmed organisms, e.g. molluscs (scallop and abalone)

Before 1992, there was no effective measures to protect farm stocks from diseases. But since the huge losses of farmed penaeid shrimp in 1993, various prophylactic and therapeutic measures were taken to protect farmed species in the long term.

These measures, which exerted a profound influence on the sustainability of sea farming and sea ranching development in China, were as follows:

• In 1993, the Ministry of Agriculture organized a workshop on shrimp diseases and their prevention. Participants came from five provinces and cities of northern China.
• In October 1993, the National Conference on Shrimp Farming was held in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province. Discussions focused on the prevention of diseases, their ecological impacts and the strengthening of research on healthy farming technologies as well as on disease prevention and treatment.
• In May 1994, the Department of Fisheries published the “Summary of the First Meeting on Prevention, Treatment and Control of Shrimp Epidemics”
• In October 1994, the National Bureau of Aquatic Products held a workshop on prevention and treatment of shrimp epidemics.
• In 1995, a National workshop on the establishment of demonstration zones for prevention and treatment of shrimp epidemics was held by the National Bureau of Aquatic Products in Beijing. The meeting established 18 demonstration zones in the coastal provinces. The experience gained in these zones on disease control was to be extended country-wide.
• In 1995, in order to strengthen the programmes, the National Bureau of Aquatic Products moved the office responsible for the Network on the Prevention and Treatment of Aquaculture Diseases from the Chinese Fisheries Society to the technical extension of the National Aquaculture Station.
• In August 1995, the National Bureau of Aquatic Products issued the “Statute of the National Network on the Prevention and Treatment of Aquaculture Epidemics”.
• In 1996, during the conference on agriculture, the fishery meeting pointed out that the establishment of the system for prevention and treatment of aquaculture epidemics would be included into six main systems for the Ninth Five-Year Plan.

All these actions contributed effectively to control shrimp epidemics and diseases of other marine species. In general, epidemics prevention in aquaculture and healthy management in sea farming were considered to be essential for the sustainable development of sea farming and ranching.

4.5 Marine Habitat Improvement

In the 1980s, artificial reefs were built in China. Due to financial constraints, the project was stopped after five years (Section 3.7). Existing habitat improvements gave good results for the ranching of sea cucumber (Stichopus japonicus), Japanese scallop (Patinopecten yesoensis) and abalone (Haliotis discus hannai), as well as for the protection of mangroves.

The main measures included (i) establishing protected zones; (ii) Improving natural habitats of economically important species; (iii) stocking seed in these natural habitats for resource enhancement; and (iv) prohibiting cutting and damaging mangroves.

In 1999, the National Council approved five natural sea protection zones. Among them, the Natural Sea Protection Zone of Nanji Islands was placed on the United Nations list of the Network of Protection Zones of the Biosphere. In this zone, there were about 1 500 marine aquatic species (mainly, 421 molluscs and 178 macroalgae) to be properly protected. In addition to these national zones, provincial and municipal governments approved many small-scale protection zones for enhancing and protecting local indigenous species in particular.

Habitat improvement was done on a trial basis, combining environmental improvement with stocking of seed. In the Shandong Province, such an enhancement zone for sea cucumber was established, involving the introduction of stones or concrete structures at selected sites and the stocking of juveniles in these areas.

A penaeid shrimp (P. chinensis) enhancement project was carried out in the 1980s. A return rate as high as 8 to10 percent was reported for the Buhai Sea and the Xiangshan Bay (East China Sea). The project was stopped to prevent any risk of disease epidemics and for other reasons.

Protection of the mangrove forest became a priority world-wide, similarly to the protection of coral reefs. The Chinese government focused its attention on this subject also, following reports that of the 60 000 ha of natural mangroves which once flourished along the coastal line from the Fujian Province to the Hainan Province, only 10 000 ha subsisted. New regulations forbade mangrove cutting and reforestation was planned.

4.6 Reorganization of the Fishery Sector

According to statistics, the labour force engaged in marine fishing steadily decreased from 1.19 million in 1997 to 1.18 million in 1998, an average annual rate of about 0.8 percent. On the contrary, the labour force engaged in sea farming regularly increased from 459 000 in 1997 to 488 000 in 1998, an average annual rate of 6.3 percent. It meant that a great part of the labour force engaged in marine fishing shifted to mariculture activities. During such period, fisheries authorities paid more attention to the reorganization of the fishery sector and to the redeployment of fishermen.

To support such reorganization, there were three possibilities: (i) developing offshore cage farming; (ii) establishing land based marine farms; and (iii) developing the fishery processing industry.

For example, research on offshore cages was listed as one of the national priority projects since the 1990s. In the Zhejiang Province, a special team was organized to study the introduction of offshore cages from other countries, such as the USA and Norway, and the manufacture of locally designed equipment. Similar activities took place in the Guangdong, Fujian, and Shandong Provinces.

In northern China, the difference between minimum and maximum sea water temperatures can be as high as 20 to 25 C and it is difficult to farm marine fish in the open sea. Fishermen, therefore, easily accepted to farm marine fish in land based facilities. Flounder and European turbot became popular fish for sea farming. In order to prevent water pollution from commercial-scale farms, advanced recirculation systems were adopted.

It is our believe that the shift from fishing to farming will be successful because sea farming and sea ranching are firmly established activities in Chinese fishing towns and villages. Regulations and policies also encourage entrepreneurs to invest in this prosperous industry.