The oyster fishery in China: Trend, concerns and solutions

Oyster is a filter-feeding bivalve mollusk existing in almost all the coastal areas throughout the world. China also has abundant oyster resources and a long history of their utilization. Oyster aquaculture is a major socio-economic activity in China's coastal provinces and it is even a leading sector in some remote areas. The country's oyster production has increased steadily and dramatically in the past decades Literature is rich in oyster physiology, ecology and its breeding and farming technologies. In contrast, there have been few, if any, publications depicting the whole picture of China's oyster fishery. We try to fill this gap by presenting the main farming species and their distribution, the trend of domestic production as a whole and production of each main producing area, processing, import and export, farm-gate price, per capital consumption as well as the socio-economic and environmental performances of the fishery. Specifically, key policy issues are clarified and a series of solutions to ensure its sustainability are proposed. •The trend of China's oyster fishery is depicted and its socio-economic and environmental performances reviewed.•Key policy concerns are clarified.•Solutions to ensure its sustainability are proposed.