ABSTRACT
Fishery resources have been playing an important role in providing animal protein, employment opportunities, livelihood support, and foreign exchange, for those littoral states nationals of the South China Sea. Any damage to the marine environment would definitely have a great impact on fishery resources. This chapter discusses the abundance of fishery resources in the South China Sea, the dependency of the people of the littoral states on such resources, the factors of damage to the resources, and the existing multilateral as well as bilateral fishery management cooperation. In consideration of the facts that fish are by nature migratory and do not abide by artificial territorial boundaries, and fish species in the region are considered to be fully utilized or over-utilized, this chapter advocates that the resolution of the South China Sea disputes should be initiated by the joint management of fishery resources.
