More evidence of China’s tightening seafood supply emerged in December at the government’s annual fisheries policy-making meeting in Beijing.
A briefing paper published for the gathering of fishery officials states China’s output of seafood from January to November 2016 was 57.25 million tons, an increase of 2.98 percent year-on-year.
“The growth rate was slightly lower than that of last year,” acknowledged the document, which also states that seafood volume sold at wholesale markets decreased over the same period while “the price rose moderately.” Turnover however at the markets rose 6.79 percent in value terms, suggesting higher prices were paid compared to the previous year.
Reassigning fishermen to other work appears to be a priority for government in 2017. The document points to a total of 496 recreational fishery demonstration bases have been established, creating 40,000 jobs. An annual fishing moratorium on the Yangtze River Basin has been extended from three to four months while the document flags an “improvement” to the marine fishing moratorium – suggesting a possible extension beyond the current three months in summer. The document also points to a successful retraining project in Guizhou Province, aiming to allow Yangtze River fishermen "retreat to shore.”
Meanwhile, China claims to have arrested 21,000 for illegal fishing and removed 304,600 hectares of illegal cages from unlicensed aquaculture farms.
