China has a momentous opportunity to restore its wild fisheries and protect marine ecosystems, according to a 2017 study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In China’s 13th five-year plan, launched in 2016, the central government for the first time explicitly listed social equity and environmental protection as priorities on par with economic development. Achieving that vision in the ocean, however, will require serious institutional reforms. Based on three years of discussion among an interdisciplinary team of experts, the study recommends six such measures that fall into the categories of:
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Cao, L., Y. Chen, S. Dong, A. Hanson, B. Huang, D. Leadbitter, D. C. Little, E. K. Pikitch, Y. Qiu, Y. S. de Mitcheson, U. R. Sumaila, M. Williams, G. Xue, Y. Ye, W. Zhang, Y. Zhou, P. Zhuang, and R. L. Naylor. (2017). Opportunity for marine fisheries reform in China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (3), 435-442. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1616583114.