Resource Use in Mariculture: A Case Study in Southeastern China

Assessing the impact of three biosphere reserves on the conservation of coastal ecosystems

Biosphere Reserves (BR) manage large territories with diverse natural covers and land uses to preserve biodiversity, promote local development and preserve ecosystems. This study evaluated how their zoning (buffer and core) and policy timeframes (decree period, management plan period, and land planning period) influence four landscape management outcomes: deforestation, natural cover recovery, and anthropic and natural permanence. For three Mexican BR case studies, land use and cover transitions were calculated and compared to contrafactual sites. Observed rates of land cover change were marginal within all three BR zoning and across their policy timeframe (<0.02 % change rate), suggesting that BR effectively promote the permanence of both natural and anthropic covers. Nevertheless, the predicted probability of uncommon deforestation and recovery outcomes at local levels showed that the effect of a BR over its regulated landscape is not spatiotemporally static, contrasting the effect of individual allocation vs a group or network. Poverty, land tenure, agriculture aptitude and distance to markets adds to this dynamic and is modelled and discussed. This study shows that BR zoning schemes and its regulatory sequence influence the rates of land cover change and the predicted probability of landscape management outcomes across space and time.

What drives the growth of china's mariculture production? An empirical analysis of its coastal regions from 1983 to 2019

China's mariculture (i.e., seafood farming in the ocean) production has grown rapidly. It ranks the first in the world and has made a huge contribution to solving human food security and nutrition issues. This study aimed to examine the development process of China's mariculture since 1983, clarify the main driving factors for the growth of mariculture production, and analyze whether China's experience can help other major producers in the world. Using the data on China's 10 coastal regions, this study applied the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) from both the national and regional perspectives to analyze the main driving factors for the growth of China's mariculture production from 1983 to 2019. The results indicate that China's total mariculture production showed an overall upward trend and the major driving factor for the increase changed from the initial labor force to unit production. The primary factor for the increase in the Circum-Bohai Sea was labor, whereas that in the South China Sea, Yellow Sea and East China Sea was unit production. China's mariculture production has expanded from resource-driven to efficiency-driven. This study has practical significance for policy formulation and the future development direction of mariculture. This study provides a universally applicable methodology, and has reference significance for the world's major mariculture producers to further study the sustainable growth of mariculture production.

Farming fish in the sea will not nourish the world

Recent literature on marine fish farming brands it as potentially compatible with sustainable resource use, conservation, and human nutrition goals, and aligns with the emerging policy discourse of ‘blue growth’. We advance a two-pronged critique. First, contemporary narratives tend to overstate marine finfish aquaculture’s potential to deliver food security and environmental sustainability. Second, they often align with efforts to enclose maritime space that could facilitate its allocation to extractive industries and conservation interests and exclude fishers. Policies and investments that seek to increase the availability and accessibility of affordable and sustainable farmed aquatic foods should focus on freshwater aquaculture.

Marine aquaculture is widely proposed as compatible with ocean sustainability, biodiversity conservation, and human nutrition goals. In this Perspective, Belton and colleagues dispute the empirical validity of such claims and contend that the potential of marine aquaculture has been much exaggerated.