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The fishery resource of Asia’s coastal and inland waters is probably the richest in the world, both as to the variety of species and to its economic usefulness. The aquatic environments of Southeastern Asia contain a good deal of shallow water swamps that provide inviting and productive home to several varieties of fish.
The cool and shallow shores of the northeast also present conditions particularly useful for several types of fish; whereas the southern and southeastern shores contain warm, shallow, marshlands for some other types of species. In all, perhaps there are 2,000 species in Southeast Asian waters, as compared to nearly 1,000 species off the Japanese shores (northeastern waters).
The shoreline territory of Asia may conveniently be divided into three large regional units, each presenting different climatic, topographic and geologic settings. The first unit, usually referred to as the Indo-Pacific region extends from the Arabian Sea around to China Sea. It is a single major tropical zone of warm climate and aquatic life that contains more families and species found anywhere else. The enormous fish wealth relates to the common history of the drainage of the old Sundaland shelf, long a part of the continent of Asia.
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The second unit includes the Sea of Japan, and the Northwest Pacific region containing cool to cold waters that undergo temperature variations from year to year as major warm and Cold Ocean currents meet and fluctuate in volume and relative location affecting fish life, as compared to the relatively uniform, warm waters of the Indo-Pacific region.
The third region is that of the southern waters extending from East Indies to Australia, which contains environmental uniformity that spawns species native to the region. For example, the species here possess breathing equipment enabling them to sustain themselves under poorer ecological conditions.
These three broad regional patterns have resulted from the shifts of sea levels experienced during the past periods of glaciation, de-glaciation and mountain building that rearranged land and sea features, river systems, coastal seas, and ocean currents of southern and eastern Asia. From time to time such changes produced marine environments that created the differences among the three major zones.
The importance of fishing as an economic activity in Asia can be judged from the fact that two-fifths of the world’s nearly 100 million metric tons of fish catch is derived from the Asian shores and inland water bodies. Although China, Japan, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand are the prominent fishing nations, nearly all of the Asian countries having marine environment report fishing as one of their major industries.
China is the world’s leading fishing nation today, normally accounting for 22 million metric tons of catch which is nearly 21 percent of the world’s total. As the fish forms an integral part of the Chinese diet, all rivers and coastal waters are fished extensively. Fresh-water fisheries are important in the lower Chang Jiang Valley, and southeast China, but are much less significant than the sea fisheries.
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Fish are also raised on one million hectares of reservoirs, ponds, and rice lands. The most important marine fishing area is along the embayed coast from Shanghai to Guangzhou. China’s fishing fleet is mostly lacking in new and modern equipment, although motorized fishing is becoming increasingly important.
Japan for a long time had been the world’s leading fishing nation. Her fish catch ranged between 6-11 million metric tons annually between 1970-1999. As she industrialized herself since the Second World War, China and India caught up with her and by 1990 outranked her in fish catch.
Most of the Japanese fishing is marine although pond fishing is also important. The Japanese coasts lie close to the mixture of cold and warm ocean currents and are rich in aquatic life. Thousands of small fishing villages are dotted along the coastline. Nearly 80 percent of the fishing boats are motorized and the equipment is modern.
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The Korean peninsula has been important for fishing. Under the Japanese occupation, fishing became an important economic activity during the 1930s and 1940s. Fish catch in North Korea and South Korea currently amounts to between 2-3 million metric tons annually for each cc the two nations.
Second only to China, India today holds a prominent position in fish catch in the world. Production has rapidly increased since 1950 and amounts to about 5 million metric tons. The most important fishing area is along the West Coast, particularly that of Malabar and Konkan. Inland fisheries are limited, where there exists a vast room for expansion, but the prevailing dietary constraints among the predominantly Hindu society is an inhibiting factor.
Although fishing is carried on in nearly all the nations in Southeast, Asia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines are particularly important. Production in each of these nations ranges from 2.0 and 2.5 million metric tons annually.