The Decline of China's Fisheries Development: Mu Yongtong on Whether the Blue Ocean Strategy Should Be Implemented

[Lead-in] Live off the mountain if you live by the mountain; live off the sea if you live by the sea. But today's sea is no longer the sea of the past. Does today's sea still have resources worth tapping? Mu Yongtong, professor at Ocean University of China, explains in detail.

[Spoken intro] Bountiful Haiyang, four seasons in the countryside. Hello, friends in the audience, welcome to today's "Four Seasons in the Countryside." I am your friend Rongsheng. Before the program begins, let me first sing a song for everyone to hear. When I was little, my mother told me the sea was my hometown; I was born by the seaside and grew up in the sea. Oh sea, oh sea, just like a mother, wherever I roam to the ends of the earth, you are always by my side. This song is called "Oh Sea, My Hometown," and it has a classic line: Oh sea, oh sea, just like a mother. So why do people compare the sea to a mother? Because fishermen go out to sea with empty boats and always come back with a full hold of fish, just like a mother, selflessly giving of herself and satisfying her children. But now, Mother Sea is feeling a little unwell. What is going on? Not long ago, Mu Yongtong, a professor at Ocean University of China, came to Haiyang and gave the fishermen a wonderful lesson.

[Voice-over] Expert profile

Mu Yongtong, born in November 1962, a native of Rongcheng, Shandong. Professor and doctoral supervisor at Ocean University of China. He is mainly engaged in teaching and research on fisheries economics and management, and has repeatedly served as a principal person in charge to lead and participate in national-level research projects.

[Voice-over] Professor Mu Yongtong was invited by the Municipal Ocean and Fisheries Bureau to come to Haiyang to give a lecture for a new-type fisherman training session. When he sat down in front of the lecture desk and put the title "The Decline of China's Fisheries Development: Should the Implementation of the Blue Ocean Strategy Be Taken as a Warning?" on the whiteboard, it immediately attracted everyone's attention. This slightly rhetorical title ensured that today's lecture would provoke deep thought.

[Voice-over] Sure enough, Professor Mu entered the theme through the case of large-scale deaths of Japanese scallops in Changhai County, Liaoning, in recent years. During his field research in the county, he found that after the large-scale death of Japanese scallops in 2007, the money local farmers had earned over the previous 10-plus years was all lost.

[Soundbite] Mu Yongtong, professor at Ocean University of China

(Changhai County Japanese scallops) The death phenomenon continued in 2008, and large-scale deaths appeared again in 2009.

[Voice-over] After another large-scale death in 2009, the investment used to farm Japanese scallops was also thrown in. "In other words, local farmers worked hard raising scallops for more than ten years, not only without earning a penny, but even their investment went down the drain. The final result was losing money while gaining nothing but noise."

[Voice-over] When analyzing the causes, Professor Mu pointed out that Japanese scallop farming in the county had expanded at an inflated pace in recent years, and farming density had also climbed steadily. Most farmers raised only Japanese scallops. Large-area farming of a single species can very easily cause ecosystem instability, causing the actual farming volume to greatly exceed the sea area's ecological carrying capacity. This is precisely the root cause of the large-scale deaths of Japanese scallops in Changhai County.

[Soundbite] Mu Yongtong, professor at Ocean University of China

For Chinese prawns in the Bohai Sea, when I had just graduated - I graduated in 1987 - my neighbor was a crew member of the Qingdao Fisheries Company. He told me that in the 1960s, when they went to the Bohai Sea to catch these prawns, one net cast down brought up more than a boat could hold.

[Voice-over] From fishing boats being full in the past to fishing boats being empty now, this change of the times is hard to accept all at once. Professor Mu said that, from the perspective of the fishing industry, among China's "four major domestic seafoods," large and small yellow croaker and cuttlefish had already suffered overfishing as early as the late 1950s and have shown no sign of recovery to this day. Afterwards, the Bohai Sea's "Chinese prawn," perennial benthic fish, and anchovy, which was not originally a target species, were successively overexploited, and most species are currently in a state of "commercial extinction." This already shows that marine fishery resources have suffered serious decline. So what exactly has happened to our oceans? What has caused the continued decline of fishery resources?

[Soundbite] Mu Yongtong, professor at Ocean University of China

Our marine fishery resources are indeed not optimistic. Traditional fishery resources are now basically very scarce. The reason now is one kind of reason: our fishing intensity is too great. What is this principle like? It is like the example I gave of chives. Chives have a normal growth pattern. According to their growth pattern, when part has grown, we cut part of it off and let more grow below. But now we have basically pulled out even the roots. Regeneration like this simply cannot work. The condition of wild resources is very bad. Fishing intensity is too great.

[Voice-over] There is another important reason for the increasing shrinkage of marine resources, namely the pollution problem. Professor Mu Yongtong pointed out that in recent years, bottomless sewage discharge by coastal factories and residents, excessive drug use by fishermen, and excessive onshore activities such as oil platforms and maritime transport have also had a "worsening the situation" effect on marine fisheries, completely destroying the living space of offshore fish.

[Soundbite] Mu Yongtong, professor at Ocean University of China

The inland population is moving toward the coast, so the overall density along the coast is very high. In addition, the pace of industrial development is also very fast, and then there is the sewage discharge problem. Then there is agriculture. In the past, in agriculture we did not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides, but now pesticides and chemical fertilizers are all being used. Finally, as soon as it rains, they go into the sea. The aquaculture industry itself has also caused pollution to ocean development and worsened the marine pollution problem. Overall, the resource situation and environmental conditions are indeed not optimistic.

[Voice-over] Mu Yongtong said: "Marine resources must be developed, utilized, and also protected. They cannot become the object of frenzied development. We humans intervene too intensely in the ocean and do not act according to natural laws, and in the end we will be punished by objective laws."

[Voice-over] When talking about the role and effect of stock enhancement and release in enriching marine resources, Professor Mu pointed out that just as one place's waters and soil nurture its people, the same is actually true for marine species: one place's waters and soil nurture its fish and shrimp.

[Soundbite] Mu Yongtong, professor at Ocean University of China

In theory, if the species we release originally existed here, if this sea area originally produced this species, and if the quality of our seedlings is not a problem, then in theory it can play a role. But if some species are not our native species, my meaning is, do not release them. Why? I use the saying that one place's waters and soil nurture its people. For this marine area, an exotic species, even if it can bring benefits in the short term, in the long run will probably do more harm than good.

[Voice-over] No fish offshore, whether because of reclamation and development, coastal pollution, or overfishing, all have one consequence: driving Chinese fishermen toward the deep sea. In Mu Yongtong's view, on the one hand the state wants to revitalize the marine economy; on the other hand, some of the people who traditionally relied on the sea and lived off the sea have no food to eat. Is this not a paradox? In implementing a "blue ocean strategy," China should take Changhai County in Liaoning as a warning and must not err on the side of rash advance. As for the broad masses of fishermen, they should start with themselves and jointly safeguard and protect the marine environment.

[Soundbite] Mu Yongtong, professor at Ocean University of China

We share one sea, and we share one market. Therefore, all of us must unite. In the process of resource use, we must protect the environment and must not exceed the limits of the ocean's ecological capacity. This is the first point. Second, we must pay attention to the market. It is not that the more produced, the better. Rather, it is their market's optimal supply level, and this output should preferably be relatively stable.

[Spoken intro] Professor Mu Yongtong said that marine resources must be developed, utilized, and also protected, and must not become the object of frenzied development. Overfishing, overfarming, and overuse of drugs are all matters that violate natural laws. The sea really is like a mother. We cannot endlessly take from Mother. Protecting Mother Sea is everyone's responsibility.