The Impact of Environmental Governance on the Development of Fishery Economy—The Intermediary Role of Technological Innovation

Abstract

In the context of the “new normal” of China’s economic development, it is urgent to solve the contradiction between fishery development and environmental protection. To promote the construction of a modern fishery power, we must return to ecological priority. Based on this, the research used relevant data samples from various provinces during 2004–2017. The level of fishery economic development is measured using fishery added value and total fishery output value; the industrial pollution control investment and environmental pollution control investment represent the intensity of environmental control; the relationship between environmental governance and fishery economic development is explored, and the intermediary role of technological innovation is further analyzed. Empirical results show that environmental governance has a significant positive impact on fishery economic development, and this influence shows both spatial and temporal heterogeneity, regionally showing the distribution characteristic of “in the eastern region > in the central region > in the western region”, and the time series show the “strengthened influence − weakened influence” i.e., “inverted U” variations. In addition, technological innovation plays a certain intermediary role in the impact of environmental governance on fishery economic development. The research provides a theoretical basis for breaking through the bottleneck of fishery development and realizing high-quality and sustainable development.