Fishery Status and Rebuilding of Major Economic Fishes in the Largest Freshwater Lake in China Based on Limited Data

Bin Kang,Yanping Zhang,Gang He,Peifeng Fu,Changlai Wang,Yang Liu,Linlong Wang,Huiyun Fu,Li Lin

doi:10.3390/fishes7010047

Bin Kang, Yanping Zhang + Show 7 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes7010047

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Abstract

Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, possesses abundant fishery resources, but its fish stock status is still unclear. In this work, the stock status of and fishing efforts of nine major economic fishes in the Poyang Lake were estimated from 2000 to 2019 with a catch-based maximum sustainable yield (CMSY) model based on catch and resilience data. It was further predicted whether the biomass of those fishes could be restored to support maximum sustainable yield (Bmsy) under the policy of “Ten years fishing moratorium in the Yangtze River”. The results showed that goldfish Carassius auratus, grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, and black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus suffered from higher fishing efforts and low biomass in the past 20 years; bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis, yellow catfish Tachysurus fulvidraco, and common carp Cyprinus carpio responded differently to their fishing efforts; silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Amur catfish Silurus asotus, and mandarin fish Siniperca chuatsi were underexploited. Six species were overfished in 2019, and their biomass would be expected to recover for sustainable exploitation during the fishing moratorium, except for M. piceus. This study provided a case study of feasible freshwater fishery evaluation in limnetic ecosystems.

Highlights

Inland fisheries are characterized by multi-drivers and multi-species [1], providing food and livelihoods for millions of people [2], especially in developing countries
Fishing pressure on different fish resources was divergent because of varying fishing gears and efforts, the status of these nine fishes in Poyang Lake was classified into four groups
The results suggest that the recovery rates of different species were mainly dependent on their biological characteristics and stock status in 2019

Summary

Introduction

Inland fisheries are characterized by multi-drivers and multi-species [1], providing food and livelihoods for millions of people [2], especially in developing countries. Limited by incomplete data records, selective data collection, and governmental policy prohibition [18], available fishery information might not enable more traditional approaches for estimating stock status in inland waters. The catch-based maximum sustainable yield (CMSY) model, based on fewer fisheries parameters such as catch and resilience of species, was firstly proposed by Martell and Froese [19]. This model was supplemented by Froese et al [15]. The CMSY model performs well in quantifying maximum sustainable yield (MSY), biomass (B), and other related fishery reference points and have been widely applied to assess stock status [20,21,22,23]

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