Chinese fishing fleets prowl seas
China’s exploitation of the world’s fish stocks is far greater than previously thought, with research showing the country has more than 12,000 vessels fishing beyond its waters, three times more than previous estimates.
The Chinese fleet is the biggest contributor to the ‘‘global fisheries crisis’’, which has resulted in two thirds of the world’s commercial stocks being overfished or fished to the limit, according to a report by the Overseas Development Institute, a think tank. China consumes more than a third of fish caught globally and is targeting the high seas or waters belonging to other countries after depleting its own stocks, the report says. At least 183 of the Chinese ‘‘distant water’’ vessels – those that fish outside national waters – have been found to be involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, it adds. The study identified 1821 of the Chinese vessels as trawlers, many of which are suspected of carrying out bottom trawling, a particularly destructive fishing technique.
Almost 1000 of the vessels were found to be registered overseas, with 518 flying the flags of African nations. The report suggests that China is taking advantage of poor governance in developing countries by getting them to sign fisheries agreements
Charles Clover
Blue Marine Foundation
that allow unsustainable levels of fishing in their waters.
Researchers studied registers of vessels maintained by the Chinese authorities and examined tracking records of the automatic identification system signals that each emitted.
They found that 12,490 Chinese vessels spent time outside internationally recognised Chinese waters in 2017 or 2018, compared with previous estimates by scientists of 2000 to 3400. In comparison, the European Union had
289 vessels in its distant water fleet in 2014 and the United States had 225 large vessels outside its waters in 2015.
The Chinese government announced plans at the 2017 World Trade Organisation summit in Buenos Aires to restrict the size of its distant water fleet to
3000 vessels by this year. The institute said its research showed that China had ‘‘a greater challenge than previously realised in meeting its stated goal’’.
Alfonso Daniels, co-author of the report, said: ‘‘Millions of people, particularly in poor coastal countries, are directly dependent on fisheries resources for their livelihoods and food security. The discovery that China’s distant water fishing fleet is much larger than expected is alarming. Global fishing fleets – not just the Chinese – need to be more transparent about their size and operations, to prevent further overfishing of already unsustainably depleted fisheries resources.’’
Charles Clover, executive director of Blue Marine Foundation, a conservation charity, said: ‘‘These profoundly depressing figures on the size of the Chinese distant water fleet show that China is now looking at the rest of the ocean in a way it has long treated the South China Sea. It is ignoring the international rule-based system.’’
‘‘These profoundly depressing figures on the size of the Chinese distant water fleet show that China is now looking at the rest of the ocean in a way it has long treated the South China Sea.’’