Stanford University. US
Small-scale fisheries (SSF) contribute 40% of global capture fisheries and involve over 90% of the world’s fishers, serving as essential sources of food security and livelihoods, especially in Asia and the Pacific. China, as the top global producer, makes up 15% of the world’s fishery output and leads in seafood processing, consumption, export, and import. Sustaining China’s fisheries and fishing communities is therefore both critical and complex.
Despite China’s significance in global fisheries, research has largely neglected the voices and expertise of its fishing communities, particularly those in small-scale fisheries, resulting in policy gaps and ineffective management strategies. My work addresses this gap through community-based participatory action research (CBPAR) with coastal communities in the Yellow Sea. This collaboration led to China’s first fisher-led environmental NGO, the Blue Bay Guardians, demonstrating the power of commons principles in fostering conservation.
Using a social-ecological systems (SES) framework, I examine the conditions that support self-governance in small-scale fishing villages and explore how these community-led initiatives manage resources sustainably. This research informs policy reform, promotes equitable resource management, and underscores the relevance of commons-based approaches to conservation. By focusing on self-governance and grassroots conservation, this study highlights the value of commons research in conservation action and ocean resource stewardship.
