Dynamic Evolution and Convergence Analysis of the Ecological Efficiency of China’s Fisheries

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

I suggest that the authors incorporate in the manuscript what is their proposal to increase the ecological efficiency in the different regions studied.

What do the authors propose to reduce the regional imbalance according to their results?

Also, the introduction and discussion are very similar. It is recommended to rearrange these sections.

Author Response

Dear Editor: Thank you for your letter concerning our manuscript entitled “Dynamic Evolution and Convergence Analysis of Ecological Efficiency of China’s fisheries” again. (Manuscript Number: 2585097) The quality of this paper has been greatly improved after the pertinent opinions of experts and editors last time. Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving the manuscript, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper. And here we did not list all the changes but marked in red in revised paper. We appreciate for your warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval. Once again, thank you very much for your guidance and help. Dear Reviewers: Thank you for your comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Dynamic Evolution and Convergence Analysis of Ecological Efficiency of China’s fisheries” again. (Manuscript Number: 2585097) Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction that we hope meet with approval. Revised portion are marked in red in the paper. (Please refer to the revised version for details.) The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the reviewer’s comments are as following. (Please refer to the page number of the revised version of the manuscript without comments.) Responds to the reviewer 1’s comments: There are still some problems that can be further improved: 1. I suggest that the authors incorporate in the manuscript what is their proposal to increase the ecological efficiency in the different regions studied. Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. We have added the suggested countermeasures section in Part 5 Conclusions and Suggestions (P 17-18, line 664-730 ). The revised contents are as follows: 5.2. Suggestions First, accelerating the green, low-carbon and circular development of fisheries. Implement a system for controlling the total amount of pollutants from land, sea and atmospheric sources, strictly control the discharge of industrial wastewater, domestic sewage, and agricultural non-point source pollution into fishery waters, and gradually reduce the impact of external pollution on the fishery environment. Strengthen the environmental protection and green transformation and upgrading of aquaculture fish ponds, wastewater treatment, recycled water, offshore fishing vessels, and shipboard facilities. Promote the application of standard ship types for fishing vessels, promote new materials and energy technologies, and continue to promote the treatment of waste gas, sewage and garbage from fishing vessels. Promote online monitoring and classified comprehensive treatment of aquaculture tail water discharge, and promote the resource utilization of aquaculture waste. Strengthen the supervision of inputs for fishery aquaculture inputs to achieve refinement, intensification and reduction. Support the research and development of green fishery drugs and prohibited drug substitutes, and promote green investment in the whole process of aquaculture. Promote the digitization of fisheries and carry out the "cloud empowerment and intelligent use" of the fisheries industry. Actively build a big data platform for fisheries economy, develop digital industrialization of fisheries, and construct "digital fisheries". Innovate the ecological and healthy development model of fisheries. Explore ecological fisheries development models, such as marine ranching, intelligent aquaculture, large offshore deep-water cages, deep-sea aquaculture craft, deepwater bottom seeding and three-dimensional ecological aquaculture. By means of artificial fish reefs, multiplication and release, fishery conservation and environmental restoration are strengthened to realize the coordinated development of resource environmental protection and economy. Strengthen the coordination and symbiosis between coastal environmental protection and aquaculture, and expand the potential of carbon sinks and the space for green development of fisheries. Promote the ecological, landscape and recreational transformation of traditional aquaculture farms, develop industries such as, sightseeing fishing, fishing experience, leisure fishing , and build a good ecological space for fishery production and life. Strengthen the investigation and assessment of fishery resources, orderly promote the pilot of quota fishing, and promote the gradual withdrawal of inland river fishing and the expansion of marine fishing into the deep and distant seas. Second, promote integrated regional fisheries development. (1) Improve policies for coordinated development within the region. Break the various administrative constraints caused by fragmentation and administrative regional division, strengthen policy synergies in data sharing, spatial planning, environmental protection, industrial layout, supervision and management, and implement flattened management. (2) Establish a regional functional cooperation platform. Accelerate the establishment of platforms for fisheries economic collaboration, monitoring of fisheries ecosystem and pollution sources, fostering and perfecting various property rights trading platforms, and build cross-administrative information-sharing platforms for science and technology, talents, capital and industries. Utilize important platforms for cooperation and opening up, strengthen regional fisheries exchanges and cooperation, and learn advanced management and development experiences from high-level regions. Create positive synergies and external spillover effects through enhanced cooperation on regional platforms to improve the quality and effectiveness of the regional fisheries economy. (3) Optimize the layout of regional fisheries. Based on the resource endowments and ecological types of various regions, a development pattern with reasonable division of labor and complementary advantages should be formed to strengthen the agglomeration capacity of regional fisheries, develop modern fisheries, promote the upgrading of fishery structure, and innovate new models of cross regional industrial division and cooperation. Support the establishment of upstream and downstream linkages in regional fisheries chains, promote the development of fisheries groups and clusters, and strengthen cross-regional synergies between innovation and fisheries chains. Adhere to green development, optimize industrial layout according to the carrying capacity of resources and environment, regulate the scale of regional fisheries development, and jointly build parks with various forms of cooperation. (4)Promote regional ecological joint prevention and governance. From the perspective of ecosystems, establish a spatial zoning control system corresponding to "sea area, watershed and land area", strengthen the joint management of water bodies, the atmosphere and solid waste in the region, and enhance the joint protection of fishery ecosystems in the region. Improve the regional ecological synergistic management mechanism. Establish and improve regional ecological compensation mechanisms and pollution compensation mechanisms, strengthen regional environmental joint prevention and monitoring mechanisms, and upgrade the scientific, refined and integrated level of regional ecological fishery environmental governance. 2. What do the authors propose to reduce the regional imbalance according to their results? Response: Thank you for your suggestions. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance, I have added relevant statements, especially the conclusion and suggestion section. 3.Also, the introduction and discussion are very similar. It is recommended to rearrange these sections. Response: Thank you for your suggestions. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance, I have revised the introduction and discussion section of the paper. The revised contents are as follows: (1)Introduction:(P 2-3, line 45-74) Countries worldwide are accelerating the implementation of fishery economy development strategies, incorporating improving fishery efficiency into national food system policies and plans, actively adjusting fishery management systems, expanding the scale of fishery economy, and and enhancing the comprehensive strength of the fishery economy. However, with the frequent occurrence of events such as "black swans" and "gray rhinoceroses" and the low-quality, disorderly, and extensive development of traditional fisheries, the development of the fishery economy is facing multiple crises. In 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change explicitly stated in Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability that "climate change has caused serious damage to terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems, with approximately half of the world's species migrating to the poles or higher altitudes, resulting in a degradation of ecosystem structure, function, and natural adaptability" [2]. Factors such as resource depletion, climate change, and environmental pollution have weakened the resilience of the fishery economy, reducing its input-output ratio, and even threatened food safety.Among them, China's average annual economic losses from industrial waste, pesticide pollution, plastic waste, and the destruction of fishing habitats caused by engineering construction amount to several hundred million US dollars. Moreover, the low quality, high energy consumption, and high emission development of the fishery economy have led to an increase in unexpected outputs such as increased ecological fragility, increased carbon emissions, and sharp decline in biodiversity, bringing many negative impacts on the ecological development of the fishery. For example, the backwardness of aquaculture and production methods in fisheries leads to water eutrophication, overfishing in fisheries sharply reduces the amount of fishery biological resources, and fishery pollution accidents lower the ecological benefits of fisheries. These issues seriously constrain the sustainable development of the fishery economy and the restoration of ecosystem structure and function. Therefore, adhering to the concept of green ecological development, implementing an intensive and circular development model, accelerating the "blue transformation" of fisheries, and improving the ecological efficiency of fisheries have become urgent needs for the sustainable development of fisheries economies in various countries around the world. (2)Discussion:(P 15, line 546-584) After analyzing the ecological efficiency of regional fisheries in China during the research period, it was found that although the ecological efficiency of fisheries has steadily improved, the efficiency level is relatively low. There are significant differences in ecological efficiency of regional fisheries, but the overall trend shows convergence. The reason for this is that the green and low-carbon development of fisheries has achieved results, but the trend of deteriorating environmental quality in fishery waters has not been fundamentally curbed, seriously constraining the improvement of fishery ecological efficiency. The unreasonable structure of the fishery, the extensive development model of the fishery, and overfishing deeply constrain the sustainable development of the fishery economy. Second, the gap in ecological efficiency of regional fisheries has decreased, but the development of regional fisheries is uneven, the division of labor is unreasonable, the flow of regional fishery elements is not smooth, and the coordinated development mechanism is not sound, which still affects the balanced development of regional fishery ecological efficiency. Previous studies have confirmed that the overall carbon emission efficiency of China's fisheries is continuously increasing, but the overall level is not high. High efficiency provinces have shown a significant trend of agglomeration from scattered layout to the eastern coastal and Yangtze River basins [30]. The economic efficiency of marine fisheries shows a polarized trend and has not been effectively improved, indicating that the level of fishery economic development in China's coastal areas is imbalanced [17]; the relationship between the economic efficiency and input-output of marine fisheries is becoming more complex, with high value areas of fishery economic efficiency tending to gather and the scope of high value areas expanding [10]. These research conclusions are similar to the empirical results of this article, which also support and expand early research from multiple aspects. Previous studies have mostly focused on measuring the dynamic evolution characteristics, patterns, and influencing factors of the economic efficiency of marine fisheries [5,6,9,10,13,21,26], and measure the dynamic evolution characteristics, laws, and influencing factors of economic efficiency in marine fisheries. However, this research analyzes the dynamic evolution of ecological efficiency in fisheries, expanding the research object and scope. Compared with previous studies, this study not only comprehensively analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution of fishery ecological efficiency, but also revealed the heterogeneity and coordination of regional fishery ecological efficiency. It was found that there is a significant gap in regional fishery ecological efficiency and there is a phenomenon of polarization. Areas with lower fishery efficiency are catching up with high efficiency areas at different speeds, and the ecological efficiency of regional fisheries is developing towards a stable state. This is mainly due to the adjustment of fishery structure and development mode, the transition from traditional resource consumption to green and low-carbon, and the initial effectiveness of regional coordinated development strategy.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

General comments

 

This paper tries to measure the level of fishery eco-efficiency and regional fishery eco-efficiency convergence index by using super-efficiency and convergence index respectively. The manuscript explores the dynamic evolution and regional heterogeneity of fisheries efficiency development from an ecological perspective, to reveal the spatial pattern of fisheries ecological efficiency, grasp the development laws of regional fisheries ecological efficiency, and provide a research framework and reference suggestions for the sustainable development of regional fisheries economy.

 

Despite that the authors emphasized that the current study expanded the research object and scope to accurately measure the level of fishery ecological efficiency unlike previous studies which have mainly used a single indicator of carbon emissions or the total value of fishery disaster losses as an unexpected output [7,9,17,24,26], however, in my opinion, the study doesn’t provide a substantial information to the current knowledge. There are many redundant similar studies published in recent years. This was clear from the many studies cited in the introduction (Line 68 – 152) and as the authors stated, "By reviewing the above literature, it can be seen that various methods have been used to comprehensively study fishery efficiency from multiple perspectives such as economy, environment, technology, and industrial structure both domestically and internationally" (Line 153 – 154), and in discussion "Based on the literature review, that most studies use traditional DEA models or super efficiency models to measure the economic efficiency of marine fisheries [6,10,11], or to measure the carbon emission efficiency of fisheries [18,19,25,26], while there are few studies that measure the ecological efficiency of fisheries [3,30]. These studies mostly focus on the field of marine fisheries [5,6,9,10,13,21,26] and measure the dynamic evolution characteristics, laws, and influencing factors of economic efficiency in marine fisheries." (Line 565 – 570).

 

Similar papers published recently in the journal Fishes:

Zhu, W., Sun, W., Li, D., & Han, L. (2023). Spatial–Temporal Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Marine Fishery Eco-Efficiency in China: Evidence from Coastal Regions. Fishes, 8(9), 438.

 

Also, the study needs many improvements to reach the standard of publication, among others / including, but not limited to:

-        The introduction is very long without a clear structure, and not convincing when it explains the research problem justifying the need of this study. It is not interesting for the reader.

-        Also, the language, although there’s no mistakes, some sentences are too long and others are incomplete (e.g., Line 55– 56: "In order to improve the ecological efficiency of the fishery, and fully tap the potential of fishery resources".). The manuscript needs a thorough review by a native English speaker.

-        Format of the citation in the introduction (e.g., Line 81: J Rasmus Nielsen, etc.; Line 88: Han Zenglin et al.; Line 106: EGGERT et al.; Line 112: Wang and Ji (2017)) is not consistent and doesn’t follow the required format by the journal. Please check the whole manuscript.

 

Therefore, manuscript is not acceptable for publication in its current form.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Although there’s no mistakes, some sentences are too long and others are incomplete (e.g., Line 55– 56: "In order to improve the ecological efficiency of the fishery, and fully tap the potential of fishery resources".). The manuscript needs a thorough review by a native English speaker.

Author Response

Dear Editor:

Thank you for your letter concerning our manuscript entitled “Dynamic Evolution and Convergence Analysis of Ecological Efficiency of China’s fisheries” again. (Manuscript Number: 2585097) The quality of this paper has been greatly improved after the pertinent opinions of experts and editors last time. Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving the manuscript, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper. And here we did not list all the changes but marked in red in revised paper.

We appreciate for your warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval. Once again, thank you very much for your guidance and help.

Dear Reviewers:

Thank you for your comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Dynamic Evolution and Convergence Analysis of Ecological Efficiency of China’s fisheries” again. (Manuscript Number: 2585097) Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction that we hope meet with approval. Revised portion are marked in red in the paper. (Please refer to the revised version for details.) The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the reviewer’s comments are as following. (Please refer to the page number of the revised version of the manuscript without comments.) 

 

 

Responds to the reviewer 2’s comments:

This paper tries to measure the level of fishery eco-efficiency and regional fishery eco-efficiency convergence index by using super-efficiency and convergence index respectively. The manuscript explores the dynamic evolution and regional heterogeneity of fisheries efficiency development from an ecological perspective, to reveal the spatial pattern of fisheries ecological efficiency, grasp the development laws of regional fisheries ecological efficiency, and provide a research framework and reference suggestions for the sustainable development of regional fisheries economy.

 

 

1.Despite that the authors emphasized that the current study expanded the research object and scope to accurately measure the level of fishery ecological efficiency unlike previous studies which have mainly used a single indicator of carbon emissions or the total value of fishery disaster losses as an unexpected output [7,9,17,24,26], however, in my opinion, the study doesn’t provide a substantial information to the current knowledge. There are many redundant similar studies published in recent years. This was clear from the many studies cited in the introduction (Line 68 – 152) and as the authors stated, "By reviewing the above literature, it can be seen that various methods have been used to comprehensively study fishery efficiency from multiple perspectives such as economy, environment, technology, and industrial structure both domestically and internationally" (Line 153 – 154), and in discussion "Based on the literature review, that most studies use traditional DEA models or super efficiency models to measure the economic efficiency of marine fisheries [6,10,11], or to measure the carbon emission efficiency of fisheries [18,19,25,26], while there are few studies that measure the ecological efficiency of fisheries [3,30]. These studies mostly focus on the field of marine fisheries [5,6,9,10,13,21,26] and measure the dynamic evolution characteristics, laws, and influencing factors of economic efficiency in marine fisheries." (Line 565 – 570).

 

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance. Due to the length limitation of the paper, it was not explained clearly in the text. The explanation is as follows:

 

This study is significantly different from previous studies, mainly reflected in the following two aspects:

First, the research object of this paper is the fisheries of 30 provinces and cities in China, including not only marine fisheries, but also freshwater fisheries. Previous studies mainly focused on the ecological efficiency of marine fisheries, China's marine fisheries mainly cover 11 coastal provinces and cities, so the research object and scope of this paper are more extensive.

Second, the research methods and emphases are different. Although the super-efficiency model was also adopted in this paper to measure the fishery ecological efficiency, which is similar to the previous research methods, the convergence method was mainly adopted in this paper to measure the dynamic change trend and convergence rate of the regional fishery ecological efficiency in China, and the heterogeneity of the fishery ecological efficiency in the four major economic zones in China was clarified. Therefore, this study focuses more on the analysis of dynamic evolution characteristics and rules of regional fishery ecological efficiency in China.

 

2.The introduction is very long without a clear structure, and not convincing when it explains the research problem justifying the need of this study. It is not interesting for the reader.

 

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance, we have revised the introduction and the introduction is divided into two parts: introduction and literature review. The revised contents are as follows:(P1-2, line 32-74)

(1)Introduction:(P 1-2, line 32-74)

1. IntroductionandLiterature Review

1.1. Introduction

Fishery is an important industry for global economic development, so its sustainable and healthy development is crucial for improving dietary structure, ensuring food security, promoting economic development, and stabilizing social employment. According to the report The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022, released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, owing to the growth of aquaculture globally, particularly the Asian aquaculture industry, the total production of fisheries and aquaculture increased to a historical high of 214 million tons in 2020, with a production value of approximately $424 billion. The growth of fisheries and aquaculture plays a crucial role in eradicating hunger, poverty, and malnutrition globally. The primary sectors of fisheries and aquaculture have employed 58.5 million people [1]. Countries worldwide are accelerating the implementation of fishery economy development strategies, incorporating improving fishery efficiency into national food system policies and plans, actively adjusting fishery management systems, expanding the scale of fishery economy, and and enhancing the comprehensive strength of the fishery economy. However, with the frequent occurrence of events such as "black swans" and "gray rhinoceroses" and the low-quality, disorderly, and extensive development of traditional fisheries, the development of the fishery economy is facing multiple crises. In 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change explicitly stated in Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability that "climate change has caused serious damage to terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems, with approximately half of the world's species migrating to the poles or higher altitudes, resulting in a degradation of ecosystem structure, function, and natural adaptability" [2]. Factors such as resource depletion, climate change, and environmental pollution have weakened the resilience of the fishery economy,  reducing its input-output ratio, and even threatened food safety.Among them, China's average annual economic losses from industrial waste, pesticide pollution, plastic waste, and the destruction of fishing habitats caused by engineering construction amount to several hundred million US dollars. Moreover, the low quality, high energy consumption, and high emission development of the fishery economy have led to an increase in unexpected outputs such as increased ecological fragility, increased carbon emissions, and sharp decline in biodiversity, bringing many negative impacts on the ecological development of the fishery. For example, the backwardness of aquaculture and production methods in fisheries leads to water eutrophication, overfishing in fisheries sharply reduces the amount of fishery biological resources, and fishery pollution accidents lower the ecological benefits of fisheries. These issues seriously constrain the sustainable development of the fishery economy and the restoration of ecosystem structure and function. Therefore, adhering to the concept of green ecological development, implementing an intensive and circular development model, accelerating the "blue transformation" of fisheries, and improving the ecological efficiency of fisheries have become urgent needs for the sustainable development of fisheries economies in various countries around the world.

 

3.Also, the language, although there’s no mistakes, some sentences are too long and others are incomplete (e.g., Line 55– 56: "In order to improve the ecological efficiency of the fishery, and fully tap the potential of fishery resources".). The manuscript needs a thorough review by a native English speaker.

 

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance. After the paper was revised, a professional polishing agency was invited to polish it. We thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

 

4.Format of the citation in the introduction (e.g., Line 81: J Rasmus Nielsen, etc.; Line 88: Han Zenglin et al.; Line 106: EGGERT et al.; Line 112: Wang and Ji (2017)) is not consistent and doesn’t follow the required format by the journal. Please check the whole manuscript.

 

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance, we have revised the whole manuscript. The revised contents are as follows:

 

Line 112:Wang and Ji evaluated the efficiency of mariculture with non-desired outputs based on the DEA model using the Seiford linear transformation method, and the research results showed that the convenience and level of technology promotion have a positive impact on aquaculture efficiency [15].

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors analyze a very important and topical issue. To increase the readability of the manuscript divide Section 1, Introduction into Introduction and literature review. Furthermore, the study does not mention the role of the deep-sea/mesopelagic fisheries in the assurance of food security globally. Also, try to show that the corrent fisheries in China are predominantly pelagic fisheries. Refer to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.106907

Line 200: TONE without K

Lines 430-433: "From Table 3-2, it can be seen that in the Hausman test results, except for the 431 Northeast Region, the fixed effects model (FE) had better regression results than the 432 random effects model (RE) in other regions." There is no better or worse. Just interpret the Hausman test statistics.

Line 529: Replace "Research conclusions" by "Findings" or "Conclusions"

You employ random and fixed effects regression estimators for the analysis of panel data. There are also more advanced panel cointegration methods available. Please elaborate on the limitations of the fixed and random effects panel estimators. And set references to the methods such as Pooled Mean Group of Dynamic Fixed Effects. To this end briefly refer to 

https://www.stata-journal.com/article.html?article=st0125

Pesaran, M. H., Y. Shin, and R. P. Smith. 1997. Estimating long-run relationships in dynamic heterogeneous panels. DAE Working Papers Amalgamated Series 9721.

———. 1999. Pooled mean group estimation of dynamic heterogeneous panels. Journal of the American Statistical Association 94: 621–634.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-wine-economics/article/business-cycles-and-alcohol-consumption-evidence-from-a-nonlinear-panel-ardl-approach/2F273978A40B8D7675873A452B2F899A

Pesaran, M. H., and R. P. Smith. 1995. Estimating long-run relationships from dynamic heterogeneous panels. Journal of Econometrics 68: 79–113. 

Author Response

Dear Editor:

Thank you for your letter concerning our manuscript entitled “Dynamic Evolution and Convergence Analysis of Ecological Efficiency of China’s fisheries” again. (Manuscript Number: 2585097) The quality of this paper has been greatly improved after the pertinent opinions of experts and editors last time. Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving the manuscript, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We tried our best to improve the manuscript and made some changes in the manuscript. These changes will not influence the content and framework of the paper. And here we did not list all the changes but marked in red in revised paper.

We appreciate for your warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval. Once again, thank you very much for your guidance and help.

 

Dear Reviewers:

Thank you for your comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Dynamic Evolution and Convergence Analysis of Ecological Efficiency of China’s fisheries” again. (Manuscript Number: 2585097) Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction that we hope meet with approval. Revised portion are marked in red in the paper. (Please refer to the revised version for details.) The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the reviewer’s comments are as following. (Please refer to the page number of the revised version of the manuscript without comments.) 

 

 

Responds to the reviewer 3’s comments:

1.The authors analyze a very important and topical issue. To increase the readability of the manuscript divide Section 1, Introduction into Introduction and literature review.

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance, we have divided the Section 1, Introduction into Introduction and literature review. The revised contents are as follows: (P 1-2, line 32-74 )

(1)Introduction:(P 1-2, line 32-74)

1. IntroductionandLiterature Review

1.1. Introduction

Fishery is an important industry for global economic development, so its sustainable and healthy development is crucial for improving dietary structure, ensuring food security, promoting economic development, and stabilizing social employment. According to the report The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022, released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, owing to the growth of aquaculture globally, particularly the Asian aquaculture industry, the total production of fisheries and aquaculture increased to a historical high of 214 million tons in 2020, with a production value of approximately $424 billion. The growth of fisheries and aquaculture plays a crucial role in eradicating hunger, poverty, and malnutrition globally. The primary sectors of fisheries and aquaculture have employed 58.5 million people [1]. Countries worldwide are accelerating the implementation of fishery economy development strategies, incorporating improving fishery efficiency into national food system policies and plans, actively adjusting fishery management systems, expanding the scale of fishery economy, and and enhancing the comprehensive strength of the fishery economy. However, with the frequent occurrence of events such as "black swans" and "gray rhinoceroses" and the low-quality, disorderly, and extensive development of traditional fisheries, the development of the fishery economy is facing multiple crises. In 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change explicitly stated in Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability that "climate change has caused serious damage to terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems, with approximately half of the world's species migrating to the poles or higher altitudes, resulting in a degradation of ecosystem structure, function, and natural adaptability" [2]. Factors such as resource depletion, climate change, and environmental pollution have weakened the resilience of the fishery economy,  reducing its input-output ratio, and even threatened food safety.Among them, China's average annual economic losses from industrial waste, pesticide pollution, plastic waste, and the destruction of fishing habitats caused by engineering construction amount to several hundred million US dollars. Moreover, the low quality, high energy consumption, and high emission development of the fishery economy have led to an increase in unexpected outputs such as increased ecological fragility, increased carbon emissions, and sharp decline in biodiversity, bringing many negative impacts on the ecological development of the fishery. For example, the backwardness of aquaculture and production methods in fisheries leads to water eutrophication, overfishing in fisheries sharply reduces the amount of fishery biological resources, and fishery pollution accidents lower the ecological benefits of fisheries. These issues seriously constrain the sustainable development of the fishery economy and the restoration of ecosystem structure and function. Therefore, adhering to the concept of green ecological development, implementing an intensive and circular development model, accelerating the "blue transformation" of fisheries, and improving the ecological efficiency of fisheries have become urgent needs for the sustainable development of fisheries economies in various countries around the world.

 

2.Furthermore, the study does not mention the role of the deep-sea/mesopelagic fisheries in the assurance of food security globally. Also, try to show that the corrent fisheries in China are predominantly pelagic fisheries. Refer to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.106907

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance, we have referred to relevant papers recommended by the reviewers.(“Deep-sea fisheries as resilient bioeconomic systems for food and nutrition security and sustainable development”) We have added relevant content on the development of China’s pelagic fisheries. The revised contents are as follows:

 

[29]Norse, E.A., 2012. Sustainability of deep-sea fisheries. Marine Policy 36 (2), 307–320.

[30]Andrea Gatto, et.al.Deep-sea fisheries as resilient bioeconomic systems for food and nutrition security and sustainable development. Resources, Conservation & Recycling 197(2023)106907.

 

3.Line 200: TONE without K

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. I have corrected the relevant error details.

 

4.Lines 430-433: "From Table 3-2, it can be seen that in the Hausman test results, except for the 431 Northeast Region, the fixed effects model (FE) had better regression results than the 432 random effects model (RE) in other regions." There is no better or worse. Just interpret the Hausman test statistics.

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance. Based on your feedback, I have made corresponding adjustments. The revised contents are as follows:(P12 ,line450-452)

 

From Table 3, it can be seen that the Hausman test results show that the eastern  region uses a random-effects (RE) model, while the other regions use a fixed-effects model (FE). 

 

5.Line 529: Replace "Research conclusions" by "Findings" or "Conclusions"

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance, I have already replaced the “Research conclusions” by “Conclusions”.

 

6.You employ random and fixed effects regression estimators for the analysis of panel data. There are also more advanced panel cointegration methods available. Please elaborate on the limitations of the fixed and random effects panel estimators. And set references to the methods such as Pooled Mean Group of Dynamic Fixed Effects. To this end briefly refer to

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance. I have carefully referred to the literature provided by the reviewers. The revised contents are as follows:(P12 ,line450-460)

 

Generally, such as the fixed and random effects estimators, where the intercepts are allowed to differ across groups while all other coefficients and error variances are constrained to be the same [34]. The pooled mean group (PMG) estimator is better, because it involves both pooling and averaging. This estimator allows the intercepts, short-run coefficients, and error variances to differ freely across groups, but constrains the long-run coefficients to be the same [35]. The focus of this paper is to analyze the convergence of regional fishery ecological efficiency, and the accuracy of explanatory variables is not high. Therefore, RE and FE will continue to be used to compare and analyze the convergence of regional fishery ecological efficiency. From Table 3, it can be seen that the Hausman test results show that the eastern region uses a random-effects (RE) model, while the other regions use a fixed-effects model (FE). 

[34]Pesaran, M. H., and R. P. Smith. 1995. Estimating long-run relationships from dynamic heterogeneous panels. Journal of Econometrics 68: 79–113.

[35]Yongcheol Shin. Pooled Mean Group Estimation of Dynamic Heterogeneous Panels[J]. Edinburgh School of Economics Discussion Paper Series Number 16. November 1998.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors successfully responded to most of my comments, and the manuscript has been greatly improved based on my first review and the other reviewers recommendations.

Author Response

Dear Reviewers:

Thank you for your letter concerning our manuscript entitled “Dynamic Evolution and Convergence Analysis of Ecological Efficiency of China’s fisheries” again. (Manuscript Number: 2585097) The quality of this paper has been greatly improved after the pertinent opinions of experts and editors last time. Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving the manuscript, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches.

Thanks very much for your kind work and consideration on publication of our paper. On behalf of my co-authors, we would like to express our great appreciation to editor and reviewers.

Thank you and best regards. Once again, thank you very much for your guidance and help.

Yours sincerely.

Corresponding author: Lei Huang

• mail: [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Reference 30 has bot been cited properly. Please indicate the complete list of authors.

Author Response

Dear Reviewers:

Thank you for your letter concerning our manuscript entitled “Dynamic Evolution and Convergence Analysis of Ecological Efficiency of China’s fisheries” again. (Manuscript Number: 2585097) The quality of this paper has been greatly improved after the pertinent opinions of experts and editors last time. Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving the manuscript, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches.

Thanks very much for your kind work and consideration on publication of our paper. On behalf of my co-authors, we would like to express our great appreciation to editor and reviewers.

Thank you and best regards. Once again, thank you very much for your guidance and help.

Yours sincerely.

Corresponding author: Lei Huang

• mail: [email protected]

 

Responds to the reviewer 3’s comments:

1.Reference 30 has bot been cited properly. Please indicate the complete list of authors.

Response: Thanks very much for the guidance of the Reviewer. The comments from reviewers are of great reference significance, because of my carelessness, the referenced annotations are incomplete. The revised contents are as follows: (P20, line 829-830 )

 

[30]Andrea Gatto, Elkhan Richard Sadik-Zada, Sürmeya Ozbek, Huong Kieu, Nhat Thanh Nguyen Huynh. Deep-sea fisheries as resilient bioeconomic systems for food and nutrition security and sustainable development [J]. Resources, Conservation & Recycling 197(2023)106907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.106907. 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx