Peru on hook as Chinese trawlers ramp up squid game
Fishermen sound alarm over depleted stocks after sharp rise in vast factory ships plying waters off South American coast
Out on the high seas off South America’s Pacific coast, a quiet war over the overfishing of endangered squid stocks is being waged – and China is winning.
Environmentalists have long warned that the naturally bountiful Humboldt squid – named for a nutrient-rich current of Antarctic waters – could be vulnerable to unsustainable plunder. Similar stocks have vanished from Argentine, Mexican and Japanese waters.
But a “major” recent increase in Chinese-flagged vessels in the South Pacific has raised the stakes.
There were 707 such fishing boats detected in 2020, according to public data from South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation, up from just 54 in 2009. During that time, the size of China’s squid catch has surged from 70,000 tons to 358,000.
The group, which is charged with ensuring the sustainability of fisheries in the area, discussed ways to tackle the issue at its annual meeting this month.
Suggestions from Ecuador and the European Union included requiring all ships to have observers on board by 2028 and forcing them to unload their catches in ports instead of at sea.
But no new proposals were adopted at the closed-door meeting, which included representatives from China, the US and 13 other governments.
Afterwards, Calamasur, an umbrella group of Latin America’s squid producers, indirectly accused China of sabotaging the talks about establishing quotas. It noted that it “deeply regrets” the failure to ensure the “sustainable use” of Humboldt squid.
No one knows exactly what happens out on the high seas, non-territorial waters that cover about half the planet but are largely unregulated.
More than 90 per cent of the massive factory ships – which process and freeze catches on board – preying on the squid hail from China.
Other deep sea catches in high
‘If we carry on like this, we are going to exhaust stocks, and thousands of fishermen will end up out of work’
demand in China and believed to be at risk of depletion from overfishing include the Patagonian toothfish – better known as Chilean sea bass – and king crab. Chinese boats have regularly been accused of falsifying catch reports, switching off their satellite tracking systems and straying into countries’ territorial waters, including those of Peru.
Gerardo Cabrera, of Capecal, Peru’s squid fisheries association, estimates the countrys losing 50,000 tons of squid per year and accuses China of lying about the true scale of its catches. “There’s no oversight at all,” says Cabrera, who is calling for catch limits and research to ascertain international stocks, whose size is unknown. Neither the Chinese embassy nor Pingtan Marine, one of the principal companies accused of illegal fishing, responded to requests for comment.
The unchecked activities of China’s long-distance super trawlers is piling pressure on Peru’s rich, but rapidly depleting marine resources, compounding the problem of overfishing by locals to meet the demands of a booming population, climate change and pollution.
The nation’s annual fishing catch of five million tons puts it in the world’s top five. “Every year it gets worse,” says Ricardo Ayaucan, a Lima fisherman, as he hauls the drift net aboard his tiny boat bobbing in the Pacific swell before the sea lions devour his meager catch.
Like his father and grandfather, fishing is the only trade Mr Ayaucan, 46, has ever known. “But my son will do something else,” he says. “There’s no future in it. At this rate, the fish will soon be gone.”
Mr Ayaucan’s experience is mirrored by fishermen along the 1,500-mile Peruvian coast. One recent study found that Peruvian fishermen were having to put more and more time into getting smaller and smaller catches. It reported that many were now earning just half Peru’s minimum wage, currently 930 Sols (£190) a month.
Making matters worse, this month, the Spanish oil company Repsol managed to spill 11,000 barrels of crude from its refinery in Lima. So far, the slick has wiped out wildlife on 100 miles of coast. The rate at which fish are being pulled out of the sea is unsustainable, says Evelyn LunaVictoria, head of the oceans programme at the World Wildlife Fund’s Peru branch. “If we carry on like this, we’re going to exhaust stocks, thousands of fishermen will end up out of work and Peru’s exports will lose competitivity as consumers demand sustainability,” she says.
For Mr Ayaucan, all this means a catch this time of just 60kg of lorna, a cheap member of the drum fish family and staple of Lima’s lower classes. “I used to be able to get 500kg in a single day,” he adds. “Those days are long gone.” The lorna will sell for around 100 Sols (£20).
But he will need 40 Sols for fuel for his 16-horsepower motor, leaving less than £4 each for him and his two crew members. Only when he has a bumper catch does he give himself a larger slice.
“In five or 10 years. I’ll need to find work up there,” Mr Ayaucan nods towards Lima’s seacliffs. “Who’s going to hire a 50-something with no experience on land?”