Illegal fishing and labor abuse rampant in Chinas Indian Ocean fleet

Illegal fishing and labor abuse rampant in Chinas Indian Ocean fleet

Source: mongabay

6/6/2024

$Elizabeth Claire Alberts$
Credit: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

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.