Plenty of fish in the ocean? Not so around China, says study warning of seafood collapse

Fish stocks in the South China Sea are at risk of collapse if action is not taken in the next 10 years to reduce overfishing and the effects of climate change, says a study by University of British Columbia scientists and ADM Capital Foundation.

The study says the depleted marine ecosystem in the neighbouring East China Sea has an improved chance to recover, but that again depends on immediate action to enforce sustainable fishing practices, such as using nets that allow juvenile fish to escape, and to mitigate climate change threats.

“Making it sustainable so that fisheries can continue to feed and nourish us is very important,” said Rashid Sumaila, a professor of ocean and fisheries economics at the Canadian university and co-author of the report, “Sink or swim: the future of fisheries in the East and South China seas”.

The research released last week modelled the impact of climate change and overfishing on fish populations and the revenues generated by both bodies of ocean by 2100. The South and East China seas have a combined annual trade value of US$100 billion, making them the two most important fishing areas in the western Pacific, according to the study, and providing food and livelihoods to millions of people.

Under certain climate change scenarios, sharks and popular seafood species such as groupers and threadfin bream could plunge to a fraction of their present population by the end of the century, if not driven completely to extinction, according to Sumaila.