ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses matters through analysis of data from a survey of over one hundred integrated fish farms in eight provinces of China. It uses the survey results to examine the relationship between the quantity and value of production, on the one hand, and the various key inputs (particularly fish stocking levels, feed, fertilizer and fuel) on the other hand. The chapter represents an attempt to better understand the traditional methods of Chinese integrated fish farming, and particularly their bio-economic aspects, through analysis of a survey of fish farms carried out in 198586, relatively early in China's rapid economic transformation. In comparing the relative contribution of the various inputs to the total operating costs of Chinese integrated fish farms, some common aspects are apparent. The chapter reflects on the nature of Chinese integrated fish farming, and how it is evolving from the 1980s through the 1990s, as a result of the radical transformation of the Chinese economy.
