Spatial and Temporal Differentiation of the Coordination and Interaction among the Three Fishery Industries in China from the Value Chain Perspective

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The topic of this manuscript is suitable for “Fishes”. The theme "Spatial and temporal differentiation of the synergy and interactive response among the three fishery industries in China from the value chain perspective” is also of potential interest to researchers in the field. The article had the favorable opinion in the scientific analysis.

General comments

The manuscript contains some potentially interesting findings. Despite the research having a regional character, I find its publication interesting due to the importance of China in the world scenario of fisheries and aquaculture

The research is justified because there are few quantitative studies on the integration of the rural three industries, and there is no unified way to measure the degree of integration. Studying the correlation of the three fishery industries and grasping the interactive relationship with regard to accelerating the realization of the coordination and mutual promotion of the three fishery industries hold great significance.

Abstract. Although the actual experimental results are presented, the logic and hypotheses being tested are not. It is important to include them in the Abstract because researchers browsing on databases will not understand the implications of the study and are likely to pass it over. You need to put in more data; many people only read the abstract.

Methods are detailed or precise enough. The test criterion is whether a researcher who wishes to repeat the work could do so without introducing other variability.

Discussion. The Discussion covers some really interesting points, but it needs a clearer direction as to why they are of significance and interest to the main thrust of the paper. Since this is not elaborated, their inclusion appears somewhat random and disorganised. The authors characterize in the study the three variants of the fishing industry. The primary industry of fishery refers to the industry, including fishing, breeding and aquaculture, which controls the growth and reproduction process of organisms by artificially utilizing the natural growth and self-reproduction process, and produces products that can be consumed without deep processing. The secondary fishery industry, also known as fishery industry and construction industry, includes fishery processing, manufacturing of fishery machinery and tools, fishery feed and drugs, construction, etc. It is the industrial sector that processes the primary fishery industry and the products (raw materials) provided by the industry. The tertiary industry of fishery, also known as fishery circulation and service industry, refers to other fishery activities except the primary and secondary industries of fishery, including recreational fishery, fishery circulation, storage and transportation, etc

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Your paper is about three fisheries industries in China, and your objective is to compare and contrast their respective efficiencies and at the same time examine present and future ‘synergies’ between them:

“This paper incorporates the primary, secondary, and tertiary fishery industries into the analysis framework, selects three specific appreciation processes in the fishery industries, i.e., fishery capture and aquaculture, aquaculture processing, and recreational fishery, and reveals the interconnection of the three industries from the value chain perspective” (lines 144-148).  

The paper is focused on an important topic, and it is generally very well written and coherently organised. However, I have five reservations about it.

(1) The first page of the paper is not easy to read because of the complex jargon you employ. For example, the title is almost unintelligible to me: “Spatial and temporal differentiation of the synergy and interactive response among the three fishery industries in China from the value chain perspective” (lines 2-4)., Surely you can find a simpler and more attractive jargon-free form of words for your title? Likewise, the first two sentences of the Abstract are very hard to grasp: “The efficiency change, synergy and interactive response of the three fishery industries in China can accurately reflect the quality of fishery economic development. They will contribute to enhancing the internal driving force of fishery industry integration under the existing structural system and to realizing the coordination and mutual promotion of the three fishery industries” (lines 9-12). Such dense phraseology is unlikely to appeal to a casual reader.

(2) There is confusion over the three types of fisheries. On lines 108-110, you define them as (1) capture fisheries/aquaculture; (2) aquatic processing; and (3) recreational:

“Fishery capture and aquaculture, aquatic products processing, recreational fishery respectively belong to first, second and third industry category”

Likewise, Table 2 lists the three fisheries as “Fishery Capture and Aquaculture; Aquatic Product Processing; and Recreational Fishery”

However, on lines 161-163, you imply that the three fisheries industries are aquaculture, aquatic processing and recreational – no mention of capture fisheries:   

“China's three fishery industries are facing the problem of transformation and upgrading. The aquaculture fishing area is gradually shrinking, and the scale of aquatic processing and recreational fishery is constantly expanding”

(3) What do you mean by ‘capture’ fisheries’? Does this category comprise solely marine wild fisheries, or does it include both marine and inland capture fisheries?

(4) What is the point of lumping capture and aquaculture fisheries together?  For example, you say on lines 273-276 that

“The annual growth rate of provincial fishery capture and aquaculture efficiency is 11.6%, that of aquatic processing efficiency is 29.8%, and the efficiency growth of recreational fishery is the fastest, with an average annual growth rate of 89.3%”

To say that “The annual growth rate of provincial fishery capture and aquaculture efficiency is 11.6%” seems meaningless for policy makers, because it could hide the fact that the capture fishery sector’s growth rate was very negative while the aquaculture sector’s growth rate was very positive, or vice-versa.

At times, you do separate capture fisheries from aquaculture, as in the following passage on lines 316-317: “China's current fishery development mode has transitioned from catching to aquaculture”.

(5) Much of the paper is devoted to the objective of increasing ‘synergy’, ‘interaction’ and ‘integration’ between the three fisheries. But your analysis of what these terms signify is rather abstract and formal. Can you provide empirical examples and illustrations of synergy and integration on the ground?  

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf