China’s Role in Marine Biodiversity in East Asia

China's coastline covers over 18,000 km. The coastal waters of the Chinese mainland are relatively shallow, with depths of less than 40 meters on the East Asian continental shelf. The eastern coast of Taiwan province features deeper waters, reaching up to 3,000 meters, which host many migratory pelagic mega-fauna species. The offshore islands in South China also lie in waters over 1,000 meters deep. These geographic and oceanographic features of Chinese territorial waters provide habitats and migratory routes for a rich biodiversity.

Many cetaceans, pelagic fish, and plankton are carried by ocean currents that flow from south to north in spring and from north to south in autumn. Large migratory species such as sharks, rays, tunas, billfish, sunfish, whale sharks, mega-mouth sharks, blue sharks, and hammerheads, along with cetaceans like the minke whale, Bryde's whale, humpback whale, sperm whale, and orca, migrate along China mainland's shores from Indonesia and the Philippines, passing through Taiwan region and Okinawa into Japan, Korea, and eventually into Russian waters.

To implement the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and UN Ocean initiatives and achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, China and its East Asian neighboring countries should collaborate to protect 30% of their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) to ensure the sustainability of marine biodiversity.

China has a long history of environmental protection laws. Historical records indicate that Emperor Yu of the Xia Dynasty issued royal decrees banning tree cutting for three months in spring and prohibiting fishing in rivers and ponds for three months in summer. These laws, documented in the "Zhou Li," date back 3,000 years. They were upheld until the Song Dynasty but were not enforced during the latter part of the Ming Dynasty, which faced natural disasters, drought, famine, and war, leading to their abolition with the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the rise of the Republic of China.

In 1988, China declared the PRC Wildlife Protection Law, followed by the Central Government's declaration of the State Special Protection Wildlife List in 1989. In 1993, the Ministry of Forestry announced the PRC State Special Protection Aquatic Animals Regulations, effective from 1996. This legislation listed 13 species as Category I, including the Baiji, Chinese white dolphin, dugong, red coral, nautilus, giant clam, and three species of sturgeon. Category II covers 50 species, including the sea horse (H. kelloggi), lancelet (Branchiostoma belcheri), pearl oyster (P. maxima), horned helmet (Cassis cornuta), five species of sea turtles, seven species of baleen whales, five species of toothed whales, seven species of dolphins, and four species of seals and sea lions.

In 1996, all destructive fishing gear and practices were banned, including dynamite fishing, poison fishing, and illegal electric fishing, with heavy penalties for violations. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been designated to protect marine life and ecosystems. The first MPA to protect the Chinese white dolphin (Sousa chinensis) was established in Hong Kong. In 1997, Xiamen set up an area of 330 km² as an MPA for the S. chinensis. The Guangdong Zhujiang Estuary MPA for Chinese white dolphin was established in 1999, and Guangxi is planning to establish a 1,250 km² MPA for the dolphin.

There are currently 326 MPAs covering 13% of China's total EEZ, with 4% designated as no-take zones. China has already implemented the recommendations from treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna (CITES) and has enacted local legislation, new rules, and regulations to protect many endangered species. To meet the UN Ocean Decade target of protecting 30% of its EEZ by 2030, China must increase the number of MPAs or Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs). Many countries already have de facto MPAs, which are restricted areas due to various factors such as military sites, national borders, or oil facilities. For national security reasons, fishing and recreational activities are prohibited in these areas. These zones can be included as protected areas, thus increasing the total protected areas in a relatively short time.

MPAs and OECMs are designated for the protection of ecosystems and species to achieve sustainable marine biodiversity.

International cooperation is a key objective of Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). This is particularly relevant to the conservation of migratory species, as cooperation and joint management between countries in the region are crucial for successful species protection. Whales serve as biological indicators for migratory species, including tuna and sardines that migrate from tropical or subtropical waters to the Arctic, passing through temperate zones. All countries along the continental shelf and offshore island nations should collaborate to protect whales and other migratory species.

The successful case of a transboundary protected areas management committee has been demonstrated with the sea turtle protection areas in North Borneo, encompassing Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In late autumn, baleen whales migrate along the Asian continental shelf from the Russian Arctic Sea of Okhotsk, traveling southward through Sakhalin into the Sea of Whales, named by Mongolians, Ming-Qing Chinese, now referred to as the East Sea by Koreans, and the Sea of Japan by the Japanese. Humpback, minke, fin, right, gray, and sperm whales move into China's Yellow Sea and Bohai, with some migrating to coastal and offshore waters east of Japan. Some humpback whales navigate through and over submerged undersea mountain ridge chains leading to Hawaii, while others travel south from the Yellow Sea along the East and South China Sea coasts into Guangdong, their breeding ground as documented in local chronicles. Gray whales migrate even further south to the eastern coast of the Leizhou Peninsula, northeast of Hainan. Whale skeletons in museums, temples, and historical records confirm these historical migration routes. Humpback whales travel through Japan, Okinawa, and Taiwan Province to South China, while gray whales journey along China's coastal provinces to northeast Hainan. Sperm whales migrate from Indonesia, passing South China and the East China Sea on both sides of Taiwan province, to the Yellow Sea, then to the east coast of Hokkaido. In China, all cetaceans are protected, and the migratory routes of whales are relatively safe.

To ensure the safe passage of these great whales, the governments of Japan, Korea, and Russia must take action to protect cetaceans in their waters. They should halt whaling practices and implement conservation measures that encourage locals to shift from killing whales to watching them. Supporting the UN CBD and Ocean Decade and initiating a blue economy of whale-watching ecotourism would benefit both the local economy and the environment. Living whales generate greater economic benefits for present and future generations than dead whales. Governments should promote whale-watching and encourage younger generations to live in harmony with nature. Thus, to achieve biodiversity sustainability, it is essential to implement UN SDG 14 and the CBD. By protecting whales, we also safeguard other marine life that coexists with them, ultimately benefiting humanity.

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(The author is the Marine Environment Advisor at Qatar’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and a UNESCO IOC delegate. A pioneering marine conservationist, he holds an honorary D.Sc. in Marine Environmental Science and has been a certified diver since 1966. He founded the Hong Kong Marine Conservation Society and has published over 150 papers. He has chaired Hong Kong’s Country and Marine Parks Board.)

picture: 1954 Gray whale caught in an area between north east of Hainan and Guandong its skeleton is on display in Guangzhou. A baby gray whale stuff specimen from its skin is also on display in Culture Park of Guanzhou. Photo by John Wong

Author: John M. K. Wong, Marine Environment Advisor, MECC Qatar

Reviewed by Linda Wong

Editor: Richard

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