Using systems thinking to diagnose science-based fisheries management in China

Ensuring that fisheries policies are developed based on the best available science (BAS) is significant to sustainable fisheries management and Science-Based Fisheries Management (SBFM) thus is widely advocated worldwide. China is the largest marine fishing country in the world, but its marine fisheries management system’s capacity to implement SBFM has yet to be analyzed. In this study, we used System Thinking to diagnose China’s marine fisheries management system to determine whether the system is well equipped to operate SBFM. The system’s advantages and disadvantages in terms of BAS production and usage were identified. We concluded that China needs practical and proactive improvements in its legal and institutional framework, as well as data collection methods to enhance its SBFM. We proposed that China should mandate BAS-based fisheries policies in domestic fisheries legislation while also leveraging the new initiatives (including the newly formed expert advisory committees and the Total Allowable Catch pilot programs) to establish a structured fisheries decision-making process that allows interaction among multidisciplinary stakeholders and an integrated data system for collecting, storing, and verifying fisheries-related data.