Illegal fishing and labor abuse rampant in China’s Indian Ocean fleet, new report says
Illegal fishing and labor abuse rampant in China’s Indian Ocean fleet, new report says
Report: Illegal fishing and labor abuse rampant in China’s Indian Ocean fleet
- A recent report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) shows that the Chinese distant-water fleet is participating in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and exploitative practices such as shark finning and human rights violations in the Southwest Indian Ocean.
- The report also suggests that Chinese investment in the blue economy in the Southwest Indian Ocean region could contribute to these problems by obligating indebted states to grant fishing rights to Chinese vessels.
- China has previously stated that it has a “zero-tolerance” approach to illegal fishing activities by its distant-water fleet, but evidence suggests that China isn’t taking adequate action to stop these issues.
- At the recent meeting of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), China tried to introduce a proposal that would limit scrutiny of its distant-water fleet, but this was rejected by other parties to the commission — a move that founder and CEO of EJF called a “big win” in the ongoing work to document illegal fishing activities.
- The report authors say the Chinese distant-water fleet’s behaviors pose a “serious threat to the sustainability of global fisheries and the wellbeing of fishers, and the millions of people who rely on the ocean for their livelihoods” and also undermine “good governance and the rule of national laws and international regulation in fisheries.”
- Eighty percent of interviewed fishers reported shark finning on their vessels, and 60% reported the deliberate capture and injury of megafauna like whales, dolphins and turtles.
- "With China, the reason why we’re focusing on it is because everywhere we go, every vessel we look at, every crew member we talk to, and all the filmed evidence we get says there is illegality and abuse on board,” one researcher said. “And the Chinese have been pushing quite a robust argument that this isn’t true, it’s not correct, that they’re dealing with it, that they’ve dealt with this and such. And that is just patently not true.”