The East and South China Seas (E&SCS) — ringed by two of the world’s three largest economies, two of the most populous countries and the top two countries in global fish landings — are the focus of a looming climate crisis. Climate change is projected to drive sharp declines in fisheries productivity and revenues, with acute impacts for the region’s large and highly fisheries-dependent coastal communities.
The confluence of economic and military might, large populations and growing demand for fish and large anticipated declines in fisheries productivity are already resulting in increasing — and increasingly militarized — competition for remaining fisheries resources.
The E&SCS are part of the broader Western Pacific, a vast ocean region extending from the south coast of Australia to the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia and from the coastline of East Asia. Archaeological evidence suggests humans have been fishing and traversing the open waters of the Western Pacific for at least 42,000 years,[1] making open ocean fishing a practice nearly four times older than agriculture.
In modern times, the Western Pacific, particularly the waters around East and Southeast Asia, has emerged as the most intensely fished ocean region in the world. Asia’s inland waters — the ocean territories within the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Asia’s coastal states — are responsible for one-third (34%) of global fisheries output, which includes both capture fisheries and aquaculture.[2] More than half of all fishing vessels worldwide are estimated to operate in the South China Sea.[3]
The region is fished by a mixture of artisanal, smallscale fishers and large, industrialized fishing fleets. While the bulk of employment is in the artisanal sector, the bulk of landings are by industrial fleets. Fisheries are a key source of food and livelihood security for millions in the region.
Both out of ignorance and opportunism, fishing boats often stray into the territorial waters where the boats are not legally entitled to fish, resulting in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. In addition to these valuable and widely traded species, the region has also seen an increase in “feed-grade” fishing, with less valuable “trash fish,” crustaceans and mollusks harvested in bulk for use as feedstock for aquaculture or terrestrial livestock.[5] In recent years, feed-grade fishing has accounted for 27% of total global catch. These dynamics have contributed to the weakening of many stocks in the E&SCS, many of which are considered severely overfished. These high harvest rates imperil the long-term viability of the fisheries, leaving them depleted and intensifying competition for the remaining, dwindling resources.[6]
Legally, the E&SCS contain both territorial waters and EEZs, but sovereignty in many areas is highly contested. The majority of these seas’ waters is claimed as part of these countries’ EEZs, which extend 200 nautical miles from a country’s nearest coastline. When overlaps occur — Japan and South Korea, for example, are only 27 nautical miles apart at their closest points — it is up to the states to demarcate the maritime border. This has resulted in competing claims over maritime boundaries and creative interpretations of international law and “territory” to back these claims. China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have created 90 outposts on tiny, often disputed reefs and atolls in the South China Sea, even using artificial coral reef extraction and stacking to increase the available terrestrial footprint for building airstrips, docks and barracks.[7]
These territorial claims are intended to secure access to the ocean resources they hold, including access to fish, potentially vast hydrocarbon resources and critical minerals.[8] Complicating matters is the fact that all countries have navigation rights in these EEZs per the U.N. Law of the Sea. Vessels from other countries have a right to navigate other countries’ EEZs but not to engage in fishing or other harvesting activities. This legal gray area provides opportunities for IUU fishing, which has been the crux of many militarized disputes in the region. Among the most hotly contested claims are those related to the Paracel, Senkaku and Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal.
Hawai‘i will receive pay-outs of up to US$2 million for reef restoration if tropical storms hit, building on the world’s first reef insurance policy covering hurricane damage in Mexico.
