Worker at a Fish Meal Factory in Shidao

In December 2016, Greenpeace documented the intense overfishing of juvenile and "trash" fish - fish too young and/or too small for human consumption - in Shandong province, one of the major fishery regions in China. Greenpeace East Asia's investigation estimates that up to one third of China's total annual catch is "trash fish" - that is equivalent to the entire annual catch of Japan.
Overfishing over the past 30 years has destroyed much of the cycle of life in China’s waters. As result there are fewer and fewer mature fish. What’s left are quantities of juvenile fish, called “trash fish” by fishermen. Inedible for humans, the trash fish are processed for use as aquaculture feed. China has the world’s largest aquaculture industry. It consumes more than 7 million of domestic wild fish yearly and that demand is driving intensive fishing of juvenile fish. A vicious cycle causing even more damage to China’s seas.