With nearly 17,000 unofficial fishing vessels plowing the world’s territorial waters, China appears to be increasingly adopting unsustainable fishing practices that are draining the aquatic habitat, at the expense of preserving its maritime economy.
In Ed Ou and Will N. Miller’s documentary short, The Hard Lives of China’s Industrial Fishermen, the crew members of a fleet of fishing vessels work tirelessly thousands of miles offshore to provide squid for the global food market. The ship looks like a huge machine with a monstrous dirty look and several piers – resembling reeds – on each side of it, which pull hundreds of squid from the water. The image suddenly zooms out and the panoramic view shows dozens of such ships traveling the sea, all catching hundreds of thousands of small and large squid.
However, squids are not the only fishing interest. The documentary offers us just a small glimpse into the keyhole of the practices of China’s massive fishing fleet, which daily scans the seas to sustain its also large seafood market. A market that is growing so fast that, according to estimates by the World Bank study, it will represent 38% of the total global fish consumption by 2030. The voracious China is already trying to satisfy the high demand and strengthen its maritime economy, but resorting to unsustainable fishing practices.
The Chinese fishing fleet
In an article by Ian Urbina “, investigative journalist and author, National Geographic contributor and member of the Leadership Council of the Open Sea Initiative at the Aspen Institute, China’s practice is described in detail.
To feed its marine industry, the country, according to him and new satellite data, is sending an armada of industrial vessels to illegally fish in North Korean waters, displacing smaller North Korean vessels and leading to a further decline in once-abundant squid stocks. from 70 percent. Most Chinese vessels are so large that they catch as much fish in a week as a local boat can catch in a year. These vessels, which are constantly increasing in number, thus violate the United Nations directives that prohibit foreign fishing in North Korean waters.
Of course, it does not remain geographically only in Korea. Its fleet is so large that it can extend to greater lengths and breadths of geographical waters. The official Chinese government version in 2020 was that it had 2,600 vessels. However, in the last two decades in particular, China has more than 3,000 ships in its possession. However, the amounts vary according to data brought to light by various other organizations. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) study titled “China’s Distant Water Fishing fleet is more than five times larger than estimated – new ODI report“, for example, puts the number closer to 16,966. By comparison, the United States fishing fleet that fishes in distant waters has fewer than 300 vessels.
How is China’s fishing fleet depleting the oceans?
This large disparity in scale has raised alarm about the damage being done to local economies and the environment, as well as the commercial viability of tuna, squid and other overfished species such as shrimp and the now-endangered totoaba fish, which are highly prized in Asia for the supposed medicinal properties of their bladder, which can sell for between $1,400 and $4,000 each. However, the country dominates the squid fishery, catching 50-70 percent of the squid caught in international waters and thus controlling the global supply of the popular seafood.
Chinese fishermen catch huge quantities of fish too small or too young for human consumption – otherwise known as “junk fish” – and sell them for fish feed. The way is through the trawl, that huge, monstrous machine featured in the documentary that drags nets along the ocean floor, killing coral reefs and other non-target life. In fact, according to a recent report by Greenpeace titled “An investigation report into China’s marine trash fish fisheries“, this practice is used for 50 percent of China’s total marine catch, which reached 14.5 million tons in 2015. Much of that catch – over 30 percent – is fish. -garbage, according to the environmental protection agency.
And the demand seems to be increasing all the time. Why; Because of the low cost of course. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (study titled “Asian fisheries today: The production and use of low value/trash fish from marine fisheries in the Asia-Pacific region“), the use of trash fish in fish farms in the Asia-Pacific region is increasing due to low prices. Specifically in Chinese fish farms, large yellow crocodiles, a popular fish in China’s southeastern Fujian province, eat about 487,760 tons of trash fish each year, according to Greenpeace. Now, according to a related article published on the official website of the accredited Yale University Law School titled “How China’s Expanding Fishing Fleet Is Depleting the World’s Oceans“, China’s long-standing practice of trawling is expanding to other parts of the world, with experts fearing the possible depletion of global fish stocks. The reaction is chain reaction and more immediate than we think. Many scientists explain that in order to have a healthy and sustainable marine fishing industry, fish species must mature before being caught, otherwise they will not be able to reproduce. This can lead to a quick collapse of the marine market.
A global threat
The presence of so many Chinese vessels has made it difficult for local fishermen in Ecuador’s territorial waters – which include the Galapagos island complex. “Industrial fleets are flattening stocks and there are fears that there will be no more fishing in the future. Having now exhausted the seas close to home, the Chinese fishing fleet has been sailing further afield in recent years to exploit the waters of other countries, including those West Africa and Latin America, where enforcement tends to be weaker, as local governments lack the resources or inclination to police their territorial waters.
The Galapagos Islands are a key target, as a large Chinese fishing fleet of hundreds of vessels visits the ocean around them each year. In fact, in 2017 the Ecuadorian Navy seized the reefer ship Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999 inside the Galapagos Marine Sanctuary, which contained over 6,000 frozen sharks, including whale sharks. Despite the heavy fines and prison sentences imposed on the perpetrators, in 2020, the non-profit organization Oceana in collaboration with Global Fishing Watch, identified with their research 300 Chinese vessels fishing for squid, tuna, sharks and other marine life, offshore the shores of the Galapagos.
The exploitation of marine resources by illegal means, however, is a problem recognized by Latin American countries on the Pacific coast. In November 2020, the governments of Colombia, Chile, Peru and Ecuador issued a joint official communiqué pledging to combat illegal fishing off their coasts over the next decade. While these efforts can strengthen regulations in territorial waters, they do little to contain the Chinese fleet. According to a 2017 study published in Fish and Fisheries, China catches more fish for non-human consumption than any other country in the world.
