ABSTRACT
At the end of the last century, S. W. Williams (1895, 1: 276) wrote of China’s seacoast and estuaries, its lakes and rivers, as filled with fishing vessels of contrasting sizes, well-equipped to take all forms of aquatic life. He included in this not only adult fish, but spawn which were gathered to be raised in captivity. Altogether, he noted, an enormous amount of fish, both fresh and preserved, was consumed. The fish were not only consumed locally, but were shipped throughout China and sold at low cost, within reach of all but the very poorest. Estimates of the
nation’s fish catch support Williams’ judgment and show traditional China to have been a world leader in this regard. By one estimate (D. Riedel, 1961: 43), China’s catch in 1910 amounted to 2 million metric tons, far more than that of the other leading nations of the time (Japan, 1.3 million; Russia, 1.0; United States, 1.0).1 At the same time, China’s population was very large, and national per capita consumption of fish low. Earlier we mentioned a 1931-37 estimate of 2.8 kg. (6 lb.) of fish consumed annually per capita in China as a whole. Though estimates since establishment of the People’s Republic are much higher, in 1959 they were still only 6.1 kg. (13.4 lb.) per capita annually, far below those of such fish-oriented lands as Portugal (27.6 kg.) and Japan (22.5 kg.) (Borgstrom, 1962: 290).
