Dynamic Evolution and Convergence Analysis of the Ecological Efficiency of China’s Fisheries

Abstract

The dynamic evolution and regional heterogeneity of fishery efficiency development must be explored from an ecological perspective to reveal the spatial pattern of fishery ecological efficiency. Thus, taking 30 provinces/cities in China between 2006 and 2020 as research objects, we measured the level of the fishery ecological efficiency and regional fishery ecological efficiency convergence indexes using the superefficiency and convergence indexes, respectively. We found the following: (1) The ecological efficiency of China’s fishery shows a wavelike upward trend with significant fluctuations, but the overall efficiency level is not high. (2) The development of regional fishery ecological efficiency is not well coordinated; however, the variation curve of fishery ecological efficiency in the eastern and central regions is gradually decreasing. (3) A trend of “catching up and surpassing” is observed in the development of fishery ecological efficiency in various regions of China, and regional fishery ecological efficiency gradually converges to the regions’ respective steady-state levels over time. The results indicate a significant gap in regional fishery ecological efficiency, as well as polarization; areas with lower fishery efficiency are catching up with high-efficiency areas at different speeds, and regional fishery ecological efficiency is stabilizing.