The Xiamen Symposium on Marine Environmental Sciences (XMAS 2025)

Recreational fisheries, as an integral part of the fisheries industry, hold significant potential for reducing carbon emissions. Since fisheries are a major source of global nutrition and income, developing low-carbon fisheries is crucial to achieving the goal of reducing global carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Recreational fisheries, in particular, are viewed as having the potential to play a vital role in global marine fishery carbon reductions due to their contributions to employment and tax revenues, and because their products are primarily used for human consumption rather than industrial purposes. Despite the rapid growth of recreational fisheries, the complex interactions between socioeconomic factors and carbon emissions have yet to be thoroughly assessed. Quantitatively evaluating the carbon footprint of recreational fisheries and analyzing the coupling mechanisms between economic impacts and carbon emissions is essential for achieving China's carbon peaking target by 2030. This study evaluates China's carbon emissions from 2018 to 2021 using input-output analysis from a supply chain perspective. The results show that, compared to traditional fishery production, recreational fisheries generate lower carbon emissions, averaging 0.05 million tonnes from 2018 to 2021. Moreover, the carbon emissions from recreational fisheries are primarily driven by their linkages with upstream industries involved in production and marketing. The study further identifies the key factors influencing carbon emissions within recreational fisheries and offers corresponding management strategies. By examining the interaction between the economic impacts of recreational fisheries and their carbon emissions, and by designing regulatory strategies for various scenarios, this study contributes both scientifically and practically to the high-quality development of the fishery industry, in line with China's 2030 carbon peaking target.
 

recreational fishery;,supply chain,greenhouse emission