‘Devil vessels’: China’s fishing fleet faces claims of pillage and abuse 
By Edward White UK Source: FT Daily Digest 4/4/2022
Edward White

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.
https://www.ft.com/content/066f2d60-b4c8-44ab-8986-6e550259d089

China’s distant-water fishing fleet faces new allegations of rapacious illegal overfishing, decimation of endangered species and abuse of south-east Asian fishing crews, following a cross-continent investigation by the Environmental Justice Foundation, a UK-based non-governmental organisation.

The EJF investigation, which includes graphic video footage captured by Indonesian fishermen, spotlights oversight failings by the Chinese government, the inadequacy of other countries’ fisheries regulators and the ignorance — or apathy — of consumers around the world.
 


Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.
https://www.ft.com/content/066f2d60-b4c8-44ab-8986-6e550259d089

In one video taken on the high seas of the south Atlantic last July, a seal was lured with squid, harpooned and then struck with a steel pipe until its skull cracked and blood gushed across its silvery coat.

EJF said the seal was just one of an unknown number of protected species slaughtered by the Chinese fleet that also included false killer whales, whale sharks, dolphins and turtles.

One Indonesian fisherman described the boat he toiled on as a “devil vessel”.

 
Continue...