| Abstract: | Marine biodiversity in almost all oceans is being threatened at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. The marine ecosystem is being degraded and the extinction rate of marine organisms has accelerated. In this paper, the potential causes of fishery resource exhaustion in the East China Sea are analyzed, including the change in the stoichiometric composition of seawater with regard to the concentrations of N and P, toxic effects of marine pollution, marine habitat destruction, increased seawater temperatures caused by climate warming, ocean acidification, pressure from overfishing, and the spread of marine pathogenic bacteria. It is believed that the factors mentioned above have significant impact on the exhaustion of fishery resources in the East China Sea. However, considering the cumulative, synergistic, and superimposed effects as well as the amplification effects resulting from their interactions, the actual risk of ecological extinction of marine organisms might be even more severe than that previously estimated. Hence, ecosystem management and research focused on a single risk factor or influencing factor is not enough to prevent marine ecosystem degradation and fishery resource exhaustion. A comprehensive, systematic, effective, and ecosystem-based management policy is imperative for healthy and sustainable fishery development in the East China Sea. |
