Two of China’s largest seafood producing and processing regions have introduced plans aimed at reducing overfishing and drastically increasing output from mariculture.
Provincial authorities in Liaoning plan to reduce the number of trawlers based there by 40 percent from 2014 levels. That would mean the removal of 1,375 vessels or 61,785 kW by 2019.
This is part of the country’s new “first reduce, later build” policy. However, the plan excludes the provincial capital Dalian, which is a key fishing port and center for processing of fish from nearby Russia. Dalian has been given the go-ahead by the central government to publish a separate plan.
The Shandong Mariculture 2015-2020 Plan, meanwhile, commits the province of Shandong (home to the port and processing hub of Qingdao) to spending CNY 3.66 billion (USD 549 million, EUR 489 million) on 18 new and existing projects with the goal of increasing the volume of seafood coming out of the region’s waters.
According to the document announcing the plan, published by the provincial Ocean and Fisheries Bureau, the move cites food security as the reason for the increase
“It’s essential to guarantee food security and guarantee new sources of protein,” it said.
