Assessment of Quality of Fishery Resources in the Northeastern South China Sea

Abstract

The quality of fishery resources and its assessment is critical and a key to the sustainable development and management of fisheries. In this paper, the quality of fishery resources in the northeastern South China Sea was assessed by analyzing the survey data of fishery resources obtained through bottom trawling in 1964–1965, 1997–1999, 2006–2007, and 2017. The results show that fishery resources in the study region have declined significantly. In 2017, the density of fishery resources in the region was only 19.53% of that in 1964–1965. Overall, the quality of fishery resources in the region showed a downward trend with a quality grade index ranging from 0.30 to 0.42. It was in a critical condition from 1997 to 2007, and in poor condition from 2007 to 2017. In the 53 years from 1964 to 2017, the quality index of fishery resources in the region has decreased by 0.70, with an average decline of 0.13 every 10 years. In the past 20 years, the decline rate of the quality of fishery resources in the northeastern South China Sea has slowed.