Advances in pelagic fishery resources survey and assessment in open South China Sea

There are abundant pelagic fishery resources in the deep sea of the South China Sea (SCS). However, since the fishery resources in the coastal and shelf area of northern SCS have long been overfished, the pelagic fishery resources in that area have not been utilized adequately. Lack in assessment for pelagic stocks limits the rational use of the pelagic fisheries resources. In order to obtain the information of exploring potential, fishing ground and catching season of pelagic fisheries resources, the South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute has been carrying out continuous pelagic fishery resources surveys in the vast deep sea area of SCS since 2011. In spring 2011, for the first time, fisheries acoustics detection and light-falling sampling were synchronously used to investigate pelagic fishery resources in the deep sea of SCS. Based on the acoustics-light falling net sampling technique, the abundance and distribution of the major category of fishery stocks were evaluated. Many large fishing grounds were discovered, which confirms great exploring potential of pelagic fisheries resources in the deep sea of SCS. This paper reviews the latest results in the assessment of pelagic fisheries resources in the deep sea of SCS, and summarizes the existing problems and future research direction.