The Livelihood Strategy Transformation of Retired Fishing Households under the Background of the Fishing Ban Policy in the Yangtze River, China

The fishing ban policy in the Yangtze River Basin is an important measure to implement the concept of prioritizing ecological conservation and boosting green development. The resulting problem in the livelihood of retired fishermen has become a new challenge to consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation and to construct an overall well-off society. Based on the sustainable livelihood approach framework, this study constructs the livelihood capital evaluation index system of Ma'anshan City's retired fishing households, calculates their sustainable livelihood capital index, and identifies the effect factors of livelihood strategy choice and transformation of fishing households. The results show that: In the four types of household livelihood strategies, the Short Term Employment household has the lowest livelihood capital index and the Self Employment type has the highest. Human capital has a significant negative effect on the choice of Short Term Employment and Single Long Term Employment strategies, and a significant positive effect on the households' choice of Couple Long Term employment and Self Employment strategies; Financial capital has a significant positive effect on the choice of Self Employment strategy of households. Education level, professional skills, annual household income, residential area and loans are the key factors for the strategy transformation from Short Term Employment strategy to others. Strengthening the construction of human capital, promoting the development of financial capital and scientifically planning the industrial structure of the fishing ban area are effective measures to protect the livelihood of retired fishing households and promote the households' strategy transformation to high level of livelihood strategies.