Accounting for Carbon Emissions from Fisheries in China and Analyzing the Decoupling Effect

Abstract

This study evaluated the carbon emissions as one of the environmental impacts of fishing activities in China during the period of 2010–2022. The decoupling effect of fishery carbon emissions and fishery economic growth was analyzed using a decoupling model. The findings reveal that China’s fishery carbon emissions are substantial and exhibit multi-stage variations. Inland areas mainly emit carbon from aquatic feed decomposition and aquaculture equipment electricity consumption, with differing structures between high- and low-emission regions. Coastal areas primarily emit carbon from fishing, supplemented by aquatic feed. From 2010 to 2011, decoupling was poorly idealized as strong negative decoupling, but post-2011 featured mainly weak decoupling with strong decoupling as a complement. After excluding economic factors, carbon intensity and population size positively influenced decoupling, with intensity initially leading and scale later expanding. Structural factors mainly hindered decoupling.