{"id":1824,"date":"2016-02-06T17:47:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T01:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/aboutus\/1824\/year-in-year-out-let-there-be-fish\/"},"modified":"2019-11-23T00:20:52","modified_gmt":"2019-11-23T08:20:52","slug":"year-in-year-out-let-there-be-fish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/blog\/1824\/year-in-year-out-let-there-be-fish\/","title":{"rendered":"Year in, year out, let there be fish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

China\u2019s rampant overfishing is threatening its most ancient traditions.<\/em>
That might seem like a bizarre blog title. <\/p>\n\n

But to any Chinese speaker it would make perfect sense. The word for fish is a homonym (two words which sound the same, but have different meanings) for the word for surplus, implying wealth and abundance. Thus, the phrase \u2018Year in year out, let there be surplus\u2019 (\u5e74\u5e74\u6709\u4f59) is embodied every Lunar New Year by the eating of fish, an important tradition for Chinese communities around the world.<\/p>\n\n

\"Human
Greenpeace volunteers create a ‘human banner’ reading: \u201cFish for the Future\u201d, in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei. The action aims to raise awareness of the depletion of tuna stocks.
\u00a9 Chris Stowers \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Greenpeace supporters in Taiwan use their bodies to spell out the phrase in Chinese characters.<\/em>
But the chance homonym should come as a poignant reminder to us. In China and the world\u2019s oceans right now, the once seeming surplus of fish is fast disappearing. Overfishing has led seas to be depleted and a recent report by UN even predicted<\/a> that by 2048 most of the world\u2019s fish species will be extinct. <\/p>\n\n

\"Tuna
\u00a9 Alex Hofford \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Fishing communities pepper China\u2019s long eastern and southern coastline. For generations they relied on and enjoyed the bounties of the sea. But these bounties were never inexhaustible. With the arrival of modern, commercial fishing in the 1970s, which uses massive nets to rake in everything the ship finds, stocks of fish have become worryingly depleted. As we move into 2016, the year of the monkey, forty years of unsustainable and under-regulated domestic fishing industry in China\u2019s seas) have lead to an overexploited stock.<\/p>\n\n

Fishermen along China\u2019s coast, like Ji Yuanpi, have seen the change firsthand. To them, the ancient idiom has lost its meaning. The symbolism of the lunar new year fish dinner a reminder of a once sustainable system, rather than a portend of surplus for generations to come. <\/p>\n\n