Coordinated Development of the Marine Environment and the Marine Fishery Economy in China, 2011–2020

The marine environment is the material basis for the survival and development of fishery resources, and changes in the marine environment affect the fishery economy. Therefore, against the background of sustainability and environmental uncertainty, it is important to investigate the development of the marine environment and the marine fishery economy to improve the quality of both. Taking the panel data for 11 coastal cities in China from 2011 to 2020, we use several methods, including the entropy method, a coupling harmonious degree model, and a Tobit model, to measure the marine-environment quality and marine-fishery-economy quality, their coordination, and the factors affecting that coordination. We find that (1) the marine-environment quality and marine-fishery economy quality show a significant upward trend over time, but they are spatially unbalanced, with obvious interprovincial differences. (2) Coordination between the marine-environment quality and marine-fishery-economy quality has risen steadily, but the level of coordination is still low, remaining at the primary level in most areas. (3) The important factors affecting coordination between the marine-environment quality and marine-fishery-economy quality include the strength of the marine fishery industry, scale of the marine fishery economy, production capacity of marine fisheries, marine-environment quality, and quality of the marine environment and its resources. In light of these findings, we should increase the coordination between the marine-environment quality and marine-fishery-economy quality by upgrading the marine fishery industry, modernizing marine fisheries, linking the environmental governance of marine and land areas, and strengthening the ecological construction of the marine environment.