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Despite a tremendous growth and the huge commercial size at present, the Chinese bay scallop aquaculture is quite data-poor, which induces a series of vacuum, inefficiency, and mismatch in management and heavily impedes its transformation and upgrading. Here, we conduct the value chain analysis on it using an innovative approach that performs quantitative evaluations from micro-perspective to present the more detailed picture without relying on official statistics. We find that one parent scallop costs 0.14 USD and is given a value increase of 84.94 USD, equivalent to over 600 times higher than its initial value, by four production nodes of the value chain. There is no obvious regularity reflected in value increase among nodes due to the complexity conspired by variable increment rates and growing cardinal numbers, but a downward trend of profitability along the value chain looms. We recognize that it is not an individual case and closely related to high transaction costs, suggesting that, enhancing the horizontal integration of businesses in a certain node can not make the aquaculture production more efficient, while there remains a need for the vertical integration of different nodes to improve management effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: China and Vietnam have recently signed two bilateral agreements to deal with maritime issues in Beibu Gulf. One is the maritime boundary delimitation agreement, and the other the fisheries agreement. The two parties have also formulated a supplementary protocol to the latter agreement. All of them have entered into force on 30 June 2004. This article introduces the new arrangements for fisheries management initiated by the two countries, focusing especially on the Joint Fishery Committee established by the two parties, the contracting waters covered by the fisheries agreement, and the conservation and management measures for the Gulf''s fisheries. The challenges likely confronted by China after this institutional change takes place are analyzed. A brief comparison is drawn among the three effectual fisheries agreements signed by China, respectively, with Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. Finally, as for the future of fisheries management in the Gulf some recommendations are made. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A farm-level survey and a market survey were conducted in China to study the impact of the COVID-19 on the shellfish supply chain in the early stage of the pandemic in 2020. 114 farms of 36 cites participated in an online survey from mid-July to late August, and 23 markets in five cities were investigated from June to November. The series results are expected to provide an insight for the fisheries and aquaculture sector to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on participants in the shellfish supply chain and to improve of the ability of the government to respond to such events in the future. Shellfish farmers and sellers have experienced a sharp drop in profits, largely due to shrinking demand. Relying on local employees and suppliers, shellfish farming activities have rapidly resumed since the gradual reopening from February. Nevertheless, demand has been slow to recover due to public concern about contamination of seafood with the virus. Additionally, we analyzed the ability and attitude of farms of different size to cope with the pandemic and the plight of shellfish sellers, and discussed government supports for different size farms and improvements in seafood distribution channels. [Display omitted] • Shellfish farmers and sellers in China have experienced a sharp drop in profits, largely due to shrinking demand. • Relying on local employees and suppliers, shellfish farming activities have rapidly resumed since the gradual reopening from February. • Capacity and attitude of farms to cope with the pandemic varied by farm size. • Shellfish sellers were struggling with fewer customers, market closures, and costs for pandemic prevention. • Chinese government should provide differentiated supports for farms and promote the improvements of seafood markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, China's fisheries economy has expanded dramatically. As a result, environmental pollution caused at least partially by such an expansion has endangered human health and the sustainable development of fisheries in some coastal regions. This paper establishes an indicator system for fisheries economic growth and environmental quality and evaluates the coordinated level of the two systems in 12 regions in China. Results show that i) it is necessary to expand the relative scale of fisheries economy, optimize the structure of fisheries industry, and improve the utilization capacity of pollutants; ii) the selected regions are evaluated as half each the fisheries economic lagging type and the environmental lagging type; iii) most of the selected regions exhibit a high coupling coordination degree, and the highest of those is Shandong. In the last section, the policy implications and further research directions are discussed. • The coupling coordination degree of fisheries economic and eco-environment systems is evaluated. • The selected regions are evaluated to be half each of the fisheries economic lagging and environmental lagging types. • Most selected regions exhibit a high coupling coordination degree, and Shandong's is the highest one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oyster is a filter-feeding bivalve mollusk existing in almost all the coastal areas throughout the world. China also has abundant oyster resources and a long history of their utilization. Oyster aquaculture is a major socio-economic activity in China's coastal provinces and it is even a leading sector in some remote areas. The country's oyster production has increased steadily and dramatically in the past decades Literature is rich in oyster physiology, ecology and its breeding and farming technologies. In contrast, there have been few, if any, publications depicting the whole picture of China's oyster fishery. We try to fill this gap by presenting the main farming species and their distribution, the trend of domestic production as a whole and production of each main producing area, processing, import and export, farm-gate price, per capital consumption as well as the socio-economic and environmental performances of the fishery. Specifically, key policy issues are clarified and a series of solutions to ensure its sustainability are proposed. • The trend of China's oyster fishery is depicted and its socio-economic and environmental performances reviewed. • Key policy concerns are clarified. • Solutions to ensure its sustainability are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of banning wild spat collection are crucial for the future development of the Zhikong scallop fishery. Failure to the quantitative analysis of economic impacts obstructs the understanding of policy performance. Using key parameters extracted from the data and information through field research, we estimate the financial losses in spat collection, mariculture, and processing sectors. Our results show that the local ban should spark a chain reaction on the national Zhikong scallop fishery and potentially cause substantial economic consequences. The decreasing profitability and growing negative externalities of traditional mariculture are the main reasons for the local government to overhaul its marine development strategy. These findings have implications for some problems in the current marine management system or, from a more positive perspective, the crisis of the Zhikong scallop fishery providing China an opportunity to accelerate reforms for sustainable mariculture. • Local marine policy triggers a chain reaction on the national Zhikong scallop fishery. • Traditional mariculture has to compete against other industries for space. • The decreasing profitability of traditional mariculture leads to competitive failure. • Sustainable mariculture should persist in MEY rather than MSY in the long-term development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the production and trade data of marine shellfish extracted from the database of FishStatJ, this study aims to i) measure development level (DL) of the marine shellfish industry (MSI) in 10 major producing countries by the TOPSIS model; ii) classify the MSI into different classes in term of the results from the above measurement; and iii) identify, by the variation coefficient, how DL of the MSI in the 10 countries was changing during the period of 1997–2016. The results of the TOSIS analysis indicate that, by the relative closeness and the number of turning points, the 10 countries can be divided into three types, i.e., with no change (China and Thailand); with little change and in a gradual way (Japan, Canada, France, Spain and Italy); and with a dramatical change (USA, Chile and South Korea). In term of the mean of relative closeness, the 10 countries can be divided into four classes, i.e., excellent (class I), good (class II), weak (class III), and poor (class IV), with China being in class I, USA, Japan and Canada in class II, France, Chile, Spain and South Korea in class III, and Italy and Thailand in class IV. The results of the variation coefficient analysis suggest that the difference in DL of the 10 countries' MSI increased over the past 20 years. In particular, the difference among the developing countries increased significantly, while those between the developed countries shrank slightly. • The DL of MSI in 10 countries are measured by the TOPSIS model. • The difference in DL of MSI in the same countries are compared by the variation coefficient over the past 20 years. • The difference in DL of MSI among the developing countries increased over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]