Analysis of the Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of Fishing Vessels Activities in the South China Sea

In recent years, with the continuous exploitation and utilization of marine resources, marine spatial planning has become more and more important, among which fishery resources account for the main proportion. In order to provide auxiliary information for the monitoring and planning of fishery resources, this paper obtained the 2018 Automatic Identification System data of the South China Sea and surrounding countries, extracted the activity intensity of fishing vessels and carried out preprocessing, sampling processing, and GIS spatial analysis, and then mathematically analyzed the spatial and temporal characteristics. The results showed that, firstly, in 2018, fishing vessels in the South China Sea and surrounding countries were mainly distributed regionally, concentrated in areas within 100 km of the coast of China and Vietnam. Fishing activities were frequent in autumn and November. The average activity intensity of fishing vessels was higher during the day than at night, with the maximum activity intensity at 16:00 PM; Secondly, the intensity of fishing activities in main ports of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan provinces is clustered as dots, with the intensity of fishing activities bigger than 100. The sea area near some ports is striped, and the intensity of activities of other fishing vessels in the South China Sea is larger than that of other islands in the Paracel Islands. The activity intensity of fishing vessels is smaller than 2; Thirdly, the regional distribution of Vietnamese fishing activities is obvious, showing a stable mass clustering distribution in Ho Chi Minh Port, with little change in activity intensity throughout the year. The activity intensity of nearshore fishing vessels remains at 50~100. Vietnamese fishing vessels are banned in the South China Sea. There are two areas with strong activity in the southwestern part of Hainan Province within the fishing line. In 2018, days with fishing activity accounted for 87.71% of the total sampling days, with on average 7~10 fishing boats every hour in the area. During the moratorium period, the average number of boats every hour is bigger than 5, which poses a great threat to China's south China sea fishery resources. In this paper, AIS data research and analysis of fishing vessel activities can provide data support for marine spatial planning and relevant government departments. 2021, Science Press. All right reserved.