The Fishing Grounds Development For The South China Sea Since The Ming And Qing Dynasties (1368-1949)

The development of fishery has made substantial progress in the South China Sea since theMing and Qing Dyansties, a multi-level fishing system formed. The most significant factors offishing grounds development and exploitation of fishery resource were national policy,environment, technology and market. Under the function together with above-mentioned factors,the resource of commerical fishes and precious marine products has changed.Hebosuo which governed Dan people and responsible for collected taxes, sited in GuangDong coastal areas and along the river in early Ming Dynasty. But such stations were difficult tomaintain because of fishermen fleed. Hebosuo were to be abolished after Zhengtong, fishery taxeswere imposed by states. Local officials delimited in the sea for paying the full tax, which taken oncoastal residents. They occupyed the sea named paying taxes, appeared Haizhu, Gangzhu andBuzhu etc. The government changed to tax treatment for completely ban sea occupyed in the earlyQing Dynasty, especially regional finance reformed in Yongzheng and Qianlong, tax target fromthe sea to fishing boats. The new system also hard to solve the problem. Because propertyrelations of coastal water was intricate, offshore fishing grounds have been gradually developedand also promoted fishermen spread out to offshore.The Delta of the Pearl River moved forward quickly, since Ming and Qing Dynasty. PearlRiver mouths had been shaped, islands silted up near the mouth. The change of environmenteffected on fish habitats.“Wuzhudayang” in Pearl River Estuary changed to Panyu delta,“Shiziyang” became increasingly narrow as Dongjiang delta to a distributary channel. Tidalestuary disappeared in Modaomen, beaceuse of Doumen and Modaomen delta sedimentation.Large yellow croaker fishing grounds were silted, spawning routes of fish has been changed. Thefishing ground in the South China Sea also distribute in Namow. For a long time, the main fishingtechniques were Hengcao, Qianzeng and fixed net etc, large yellow croaker was not main catches. In Qianlong periods, the local society of Chaozhou growing stable, economic recovery, Qiaoguspreaded result in Namow fishing grounds large scale development.The South China Sea abound in hawksbill, pearls, trepang and shark fin, these preciousmarine products fishing grounds development relate to overseas trade and home markets. In earlyMing Dynasty, precious marine products confined to court and anofficialfamily. After Zhengtong,luxurious ethos appeared in highly commercialized districts such as Jiangnan, precious marineproducts entered ordinary families. Merchant who engaged in this trade were emerging, they notnoly offer goods, but put capital to fisheries production. Driven by market demand, inshore fishinggrounds were initially developed, such as pearl fishing grounds in Beibu Gulf. The end of the18thcentury, the consumption of precious marine products have become a fairly common practice,long distance trade linked fishing grounds to market. The islands in the South China Sea, thePhilippine islands, Indonesia islands, etc, embarked on large scale development.After five ports opening, costal and riverside treaty ports appeared one after another, wassignificant for exploitation of fishery resources. With the rise of entrepot trade between Shantou,Beihai, Haikou and Hongkong, changed traditional marine products trade pattern. Data fromAnnual Returns of Trade show that marine fishes from South China Sea imported Pearl RiverDelta through Hongkong and Macao, there are also huge demand in Han Basin and southernGuangxi. For this purpose, the development of economic fish entered transient properous period.After1895, marine products abroad dumping to China, fish guild in Chanzhou-Shantou region andPearl River Delta mainly trade foreign goods, cut back sharply on their investments in the localfishery. Foreign goods used Pearl River transportation exporting to Guangdong and Guangxi, eveninterior regins. Marine products trade pattern changed is one of the important cause of fisheriesdecline in the South China Sea.The fishery activity in the South China Sea have around coastal water and open seas,fishermen lived in desert islands year round was significant for territorial seas. National policy,environment, technology and market related to the history of marine fishery, effect on resourcequantity and catch of commerical fishes and precious marine products.