Fisheries in the South China Sea is extremely complex because of high biodiversity of species and diverse mechanisms of their reproduction, sustenance, abundance and distribution brought about by the composite tropical marine ecosystem existing in the region. Studies have suggested that benthic organisms may form an important basis of food supply of fishes in the shelf area, which explains the well-known abundance of demersal fishery resources that were intensely exploited in recent times in the Gulf of Thailand. Fisheries in the South China Sea are being affected for lack of adequate background information on oceanographic and environmental conditions that support and sustain the fish populations. Considering the dearth of information for long-range planning of sustainable fishery resources development and management in the region, the Marine Fishery Resources Development and Management Department (MFRDMD) and the Training Department (TD) of SEAFDEC jointly launched the "Collaborative Research Program on Fishery Resources in the South China Sea" in 1995, with financial assistance from the Government of Japan, to collect information and develop a database on fishery oceanographic and marine environmental conditions and their effects on abundance and distribution of fishes, needed to plan their management in the long term.

The Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of member countries of SEAFDEC covered in the South China Sea were divided into four areas as follows:

Area I : Gulf of Thailand and East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia
Area II : Waters of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei Darussalam
Area III: Western Philippines
Area IV: Vietnamese Waters

Studies in the first three designated areas have been completed, and the scientific findings were discussed at Technical Seminars, proceedings of which were published; summerized highlights of the findings in the first two areas have also been published. For the results of the Area IV are presently being studies.

Proceedings of Fishery Resources in the South China Sea
Highlights of Fishery Resources in the South China Sea