The impact of fishery industrial transformation on rural revitalization at village level: A case study of a Chinese fishing village

Industrial transformation has been regarded as a significant measure for promoting fishery prosperity, fishing village revitalization and fishermen living conditions, and draws attentions in coastal areas since the turn of the new millennium. Although this relationship has been recognized, it was poorly studied in terms of the impact on fishing village revitalization, especially at the level of fishing villages. In this study, a new composite indicator is proposed to evaluate the impact of industrial transformation on fishing village based on the “Three F″ dimension, namely Fishery, Fishing Village and Fishermen, and their development process, internal logic, driving forces and mechanisms have also been explored. Wangjiataihou Village, located in the most rapid urbanized area, Qingdao West Coast New Area of China, was selected as a case study to empirically investigate the industrial transformation in fishing villages through in-depth interviews and observations. The results show that Wangjiataihou Village has undergone an industrial transformation from primary industry, fishery to tertiary industry, fishing village tourism since 2004. With the evolution and restructuring of socio-economic morphology, significant changes have occurred in the “Three F”. On the whole, industrial transformation has boosted the overall revitalization to a certain degree. However, there still exist some problems, such as the loss of attractiveness and competitiveness and the low participation of villagers in decision making. Accordingly, this paper puts forward some suggestions, which aim to optimize industrial development and promote revitalization of fishing village, including accelerating infrastructure construction, enriching the local culture by diversifying tourism products and activities, exploring new driving forces and mechanisms to adapt to the new developing patterns of fishing villages.