Tabitha Mallory | University of Washington (original) (raw)

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Papers by Tabitha Mallory

CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, 2021

Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada

Marine Policy, 2022

China's primary cultural identity tends to be associated with land-oriented, agrarian civilizatio... more China's primary cultural identity tends to be associated with land-oriented, agrarian civilization, despite its lengthy coastline and history of maritime activities. But for the 21st century, as the Chinese central authority has developed a comprehensive national ocean strategy, it has purposefully crafted an identity of China as a maritime great power. Chinese agencies refer to this work as promoting ocean soft power (提升海洋强国软实力)via ocean consciousness propaganda (海洋意识宣传), ocean education (海洋教育) and ocean culture (海洋文化). Based on analysis of Chinese-language sources back to the 1980s, this article examines the origins, planning and implementation of China's state-constructed maritime identity. The article explains the roots of ocean culture and traces how an ocean consciousness campaign expanded from the military to the population in the 1990s, the systemisation of which has culminated in a five-year plan and a National Ocean Consciousness Index. Practical implementation unfolds in the recasting of fifteenth-century navigator Zheng He as a cultural icon; the state's appropriation of Mazu mythology; and use by local governments to foster economic growth. This effort is primarily domestically oriented but has significant international implications. The narrative produced is likely to shape China's role in the global commons, on issues from marine environment and natural resources to polar affairs, boundary disputes and maritime security.

SAIS Review of International Affairs, 2013

China has some of the oldest fishing conservation measures in the world, like fishing bans and me... more China has some of the oldest fishing conservation measures in the world, like fishing bans and mesh size limits, which date to at least to the Zhou Dynasty, from 1046–256 B.C.E. There is evidence of resource strain toward the end of the Qing Dynasty in the eighteenth century, and coastal areas managed fisheries through local associations. From the beginning of the twentieth century, China borrowed many of the modernist fishing practices of industrialized countries, which were geared toward large-scale, scientificbased production of fish. China’s first fisheries school, the Aquatic Production Institute (modeled after the Japanese), was established in 1910 in Tianjin. Chinese fisheries were showing signs of overfishing in the 1930s, but the war period allowed the stocks to rebound. The Chinese Communist Party under Chairman Mao greatly expanded the fisheries sector even more efficiently than the Nationalists, whose fisheries institutions were preserved after the revolution. By the 1970s, however, some commercial stocks were collapsing. Dead fish are actually responsible for putting environmental protection on China’s radar screen after Mao. The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm coincided with two environmental crises in China, both involving fish. A toxic algae bloom decimated fish stocks in Dalian, while contaminated fish appeared in Beijing’s fish market. These events initiated the development of the domestic institutions that now govern China’s environment and natural resources. In the mid-1980s, China created two policies to address depleted fisheries. The state accelerated development of the aquaculture industry, and launched a distant water fishing industry. As a result of the new aquaculture policy, China is now the world’s largest producer of seafood. China is probably also the world’s largest producer of wild catch, though there is some question here because of data reliability. Over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, China’s marine resource conservation took shape: the Rio sustainability principles inspired China’s

Marine Policy, 2013

This article examines China's distant water fishing industry, with a focus on China's bil... more This article examines China's distant water fishing industry, with a focus on China's bilateral fisheries access agreements in Africa. The article argues that China largely conforms to international norms and rules on sustainable fisheries, but that challenges remain in efforts to work with China on the sustainable management of fish stocks. Developed countries contribute to China's policies and behavior in international fisheries in both positive and negative ways.

This report is an output of a World Bank study whose aim is to provide guidance to developing coa... more This report is an output of a World Bank study whose aim is to provide guidance to developing coastal countries in identifying the means to secure optimal, equitable, and sustainable returns from foreign fishing arrangements, or FFAs, particularly ensuring that they are underpinned by effective national management systems. It also seeks to encourage DWF or flag states to adopt responsible policies and practices with regard to the behavior and activities of their fleets. The primary aims of the report are as follows: to identify how coastal states might benefit from international trade in fishing services; to consider the conditions necessary for such benefits to be sustained and to increase further in the future; and to discuss the implications for different stakeholders, especially in the coastal state. The report centers on an analytical review of economic and legal principles supported by empirical casework to elucidate actual and potential cost and benefit flows associated with ...

Harmful fisheries subsidies contribute to overfishing leading to environmental and societal impac... more Harmful fisheries subsidies contribute to overfishing leading to environmental and societal impacts1. If only fisheries within the subsidising nations’ jurisdiction were affected, then unilateral actions might be sufficient to help safeguard our ocean and the people reliant upon it. However, just as fish move between jurisdictions2, so too do the subsidised fishing fleets targeting them3. As such, the impacts and solutions to subsidies-induced overfishing are matters of international concern. Mapping that impact is therefore key to understanding these concerns and informing multilateral reform. Here we combine existing datasets4–6 to quantify the amount of harmful fisheries subsidies impacting the high seas, domestic and foreign waters, respectively. We estimate that between 24% and 43% of all harmful fisheries subsidies impact foreign waters or the high seas. We show that harmful subsidies primarily originate from countries with high-Human Development Index (HDI), strong fisheries ...

The Journal of Environment & Development

The blue economy is a globally emerging concept for ocean governance that seeks to tap the econom... more The blue economy is a globally emerging concept for ocean governance that seeks to tap the economic potential of the oceans in environmentally sustainable ways. Yet, understanding and implementation of particular visions of the blue economy in specific regions diverge according to national and other contexts. Drawing on a discourse analysis of Chinese language documents, this article assesses how the blue economy has been conceptualised in Chinese state policy and discourse. Part of a state ideology and practice of modernisation that is defined in terms of rejuvenation under a strong state, the blue economy in China is seen as an opportunity to promote modernisation from overlapping economic, geopolitical and ecological perspectives and actions. China’s distinctive model for the blue economy presents emerging challenges for global ocean governance.

One Earth, 2020

China is a key player in global production, consumption, and trade of seafood. Given this dominan... more China is a key player in global production, consumption, and trade of seafood. Given this dominance, Chinese choices regarding what seafood to eat, and how and where to source it, are increasingly important—for China, and for the rest of the world. This perspective explores this issue using a transdisciplinary approach and discusses plausible trajectories and implications for assumptions of future modeling efforts and global environmental sustainability and seafood supply. We outline China's 2030 projected domestic seafood production and consumption through an examination of available statistics, and qualitatively evaluate these in relation to key stated Chinese policy targets, consumer trends, and dominant political narratives. Our analysis shows that by 2030 China is likely to see seafood consumption outstrip domestic production. To meet the seafood gap China will likely attempt to increase domestic freshwater and offshore aquaculture, increase seafood imports, possibly expand the distant water fishing industry, and invest in seafood production abroad.

As the world's largest producer of wild catch, China's fishing activities have a significant impa... more As the world's largest producer of wild catch, China's fishing activities have a significant impact on the sustainability of not only domestic but also global fish stocks. China also provides substantial subsidies to its fishing operations. In 2013, the Chinese central government spent RMB 40.383 billion (or $6.5 billion) on fisheries subsidies. Most of this amount—94 percent—was in the form of fuel subsidies. This study asked whether China's subsidies policies align with the country's stated goals in fisheries management by examining China's fisheries policy coherence, and found that about 95 percent of Chinese fisheries subsidies were harmful to sustainability.

This article uses Chinese-language resources to discuss the development of China’s comprehensive ... more This article uses Chinese-language resources to discuss the development of China’s comprehensive ocean development strategy and the formation of civilian institutions to govern oceans as China prepares for the ocean century. The article argues that while China does have nationalistic aspirations to possess state-of-the-art naval forces and science and
technology abilities, China’s ocean focus is also greatly motivated by economic and resource interests, and the security need to protect those interests. The article begins by discussing China’s ocean economic interests, and then turns to explaining how China’s ocean development strategy now goes beyond its interests in economic development toward a more comprehensive national ocean strategy, even though ocean economic development is still very important to the state. The article then traces the development of China’s ocean development strategy and the evolution of the political institutions that govern China’s ocean policy. Finally, the
article concludes with a discussion of the implications of China’s ocean strategy, with special attention being paid to policy options for the United States, likely the country with the greatest potential for maritime conflict with China in the 21st century.

The SAIS Review of International Affairs , 2013