 Intensive mariculture occurs along China's 14,500 km (9,000 mi) coastline. | |
| General characteristics (2004 unless otherwise stated) | |
|---|---|
| Lake area | 196,000 km2 (76,000 sq mi) (incl reservoirs) |
| River area | 74,550 km2 (28,780 sq mi) |
| Land area | 9,326,410 km2 (3,600,950 sq mi) |
| Employment | 7.9 million persons (2004)[1] |
| Consumption | 25.8 kg (57 lb) fish per capita (2003) |
| Harvest (2004 unless otherwise stated) | |
| Wild total | 19.9 million tonnes (21,900,000 tons) |
| Aquaculture total | 32.4 million tonnes (35,700,000 tons) (2005) |
| Fish total | 49.5 million tonnes (54,600,000 tons) (2005) |
China, with one-fifth of the world's population, accounts for two-thirds of the world's reported aquaculture production.[2][3]
Aquaculture is the farming of fish and other aquatic life in enclosures, such as ponds, lakes and tanks, or cages in rivers and coastal waters. China's 2005 reported harvest was 32.4 million tonnes, more than 10 times that of the second-ranked nation, India, which reported 2.8 million tonnes.[2]
China's 2005 reported catch of wild fish, caught in rivers, lakes, and the sea, was 17.1 million tonnes. This means that aquaculture accounts for nearly two-thirds of China's reported total output.
The principal aquaculture-producing regions are close to urban markets in the middle and lower Yangtze Valley and the Zhu Jiang Delta.
- ^ FAO: Fishery and Aquaculture Profile for China
- ^ a b FAO Fact sheet: Aquaculture in China and Asia Archived 2020-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ FAO report: China responsible for two-thirds of world aquaculture production Archived 2011-06-17 at the Wayback Machine – FishUpdate.com