PhD defence Yidan Xu

Keywords: Climate change, Marine fisheries, Carbon emissions, Fisheries governance

"Climate Change and the Transformation of Marine Fisheries in China: emission, efficiency, and governance"

This thesis examines how China’s marine fisheries can transition towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient future. It brings together evidence on the relationship between climate change and fisheries, greenhouse-gas emissions from marine fishing, regional differences in environmental performance, and four decades of fisheries policy. The findings show that economic growth and fishing activity have historically increased environmental pressure, while recent policies and technological improvements have helped reduce emissions and improve performance. However, progress remains uneven across coastal regions, and improvements in individual provinces do not automatically spread through the wider fisheries system. At the same time, fisheries governance has gradually shifted from a strong focus on production towards greater attention to resource conservation, risk, ecology and coordinated management. Overall, the thesis shows that technological improvement alone is insufficient: lasting transformation requires stronger coordination between climate, fisheries and regional governance.

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