The Research On Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fishery Affairs Bureau And Local Fishery Administration During The Republic Of China (1926-1931)

Before the late Qing Dynasty,China’s fishery administration had always been ignored by the government.In the late Qing Dynasty,Zhang Jian who focused on the industry,advocated the development of pelagic fisheries,and established fishery companies in seven coastal provinces.The companies managed both fishery administration and business.So it was not a specialized fishery administration agency.After the founding of the Republic of China,there was a department dedicated to fisheries in the central government.But the fishery governance plans formulated were mostly on paper,and whether it was the central department in charge of fishery or the provincial and local fishery administration agencies,it was common for them to be established and abolished.In order to resist foreigners’ encroachment on fishing,protect fishermen and improve fishery,Sun Chuanfang abolished and merged the local fishery administration agencies in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces,and established the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fishery Affairs Bureau,when he claimed himself to be the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces of the five southeastern provinces.This institution was the only fishery management institution with the highest authority in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces at that time.The Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fishery Affairs Bureau was reorganized on the basis of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fishery Company.This led to a dispute between the agency and the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fisheries Association which was originally attached to the company.The dispute was about the ownership of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fishery Company’s property and the right to declare customs.This contradiction had been hidden since the establishment of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fishery Affairs Bureau.It was completely exposed during the period of the Nanjing Nationalist government,and it had not been solved for a long time.It was a game between fishermen and the government.In 1927,the National Revolutionary Army recovered Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces from the Northern Expedition.After the National Government set the capital in Nanjing,the Ministry of Finance took over the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fishery Affairs Bureau.After that,the bureau took rectifying the fishing tax as its top priority and hoped to make it a whole.But in practice,it failed to deal with the relationship between other groups.It had led to the opposition voices were rising one after another,and made the institution difficult to collect fishery tax,and the collecting had little effect.In addition,the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fishery Affairs Bureau was a fishery administration agency stationed in Jiangsu and Zhejiang by the central government during the Nanjing National Government.This inevitably involved the distribution of fishery interests between the central and provincial governments,such as fishing tax,power of management.During the negotiation between the central government and the local government,Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces showed full enthusiasm and initiative,and the Ministry of Finance repeatedly made concessions to the two provincial governments under the pressure of the military and fisherman’s movements.Therefore,the agency was suspended several times in this game,and finally failed to achieve the purpose of rectifying the tax.In a word,since the establishment of Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fishery Affairs Bureau,it had not been able to properly handle the interest relationship with the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Fisheries Association and local fishermen,and its focus had always been the collection of fishing tax,and the protection and construction of fishery had almost been ignored and no progress.It all deepened the gap between the Fisheries Bureau and the fishery people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.Additionally,those disputes over fishery rights between the central and local governments had repeatedly interrupted the work of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Fishery Affairs Bureau.And the bureau’s powers had been shrinking.The problems that were talked about had greatly weakened the effectiveness of the fishery administration of the agency.So finally,the Fishery Bureau was abolished finally.Through a comparative study with the Shandong Administration of Fisheries and Navigation,which was established at the same period,it was found that whether it was the Beiyang government period or the Nanjing National government period,that is,whether under the rule of the old warlord or the new warlord of the National Government,the focus of China’s fishery administration was still to collect fishery taxes,rather than real construction.