Study Reveals How ‘Pirate’ Asian Fleets Affect Global Fisheries Resources
China continually breaks international laws that protect fishing in the world and that is a serious environmental problem of planetary scope. When Asian-flagged vessels sail close to the protected coasts of Latin America or Africa, they immediately turn off their position transmitters and thus remain hidden from maritime monitoring systems. Often these are huge fleets with hundreds of ships each. The illegal fishing developed by China Not only does it produce millions of dollars in losses each year, but it is also putting the food security of developing countries at risk, already greatly diminished by climate change.
Illegal fishing, although penalized, continues to be a common practice in the maritime space. Every year between 11 and 26 million tons of fish are caught illegally around the world, which entails annual losses of between 10,000 and 23,500 million dollars to the world economy.. Global catches of illegal fish represent between 13% and 31% of the total reported production of fishery products. In some regions, this figure can even reach 40%.
This practice is considered to be one that violates the rules established by the fisheries, which oblige them to declare and regulate their catches. It has its own acronym: Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing. A recent study by the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC) reveals the main person responsible for this illegal practice: China.
The situation is such that warships from various South American countries have been forced to fire on fishing boats of this nationality that invaded their territorial waters, even sinking some of these vessels.
The Asian country is the place from which the vast majority of ships involved in this practice come, although there are some other countries that act in the same way. More than half (54.7%) of IUU fishing is carried out by industrial and semi-industrial vessels flying the Asian flag, and of these, 61% are from the People’s Republic of China. The percentage contrasts with that of the rest of the continents, given that only 16.1%, 13.5% and 12.8%, respectively, of vessels from countries in Latin America, Africa and Europe have been detected, carrying carry out illegal practices.
The top 10 companies involved in illegal fishing are responsible for almost a quarter of all reported cases: eight are from China, one is from Colombia and one from Spain.
Africa, the most affected
In this fight for ocean resources, Africa has the most to lose. Almost 50% of the intrusions of this type occur on the African coasts, which means 11,400 million euros lost every year on the continent. The fishing sector employs some 820 million people directly throughout the planet, a large part of which are women, and in West African countries a quarter of jobs depend on fisheries.
But the problem of the African continent goes further. The richest countries take advantage of the rich resources that Africa has. After plundering oil and minerals, they are now exerting a more silent pressure, that of depleting their fishing resources. The losers are the citizens of these poor countries, who, once again, face serious problems in guaranteeing their food security in the short and long term.
Argentina is the second region most affected by illegal fishing. In the Latin American country, the losses amount to about 3,600 million euros in terms of catch. For its part, Chile estimates its losses at 397 million and Indonesia at 4,000 million annually. Despite their remoteness, all these places have one thing in common: their great marine diversity.
food insecurity
The problem is not only the losses. In the first place, these practices do not respect the times of reproduction of the fish or the limitations to avoid the capture of certain species at specific times. Therefore, they cause a decrease in the number of specimens available in the subsequent capture campaign.
According to UN estimates, 90% of fishing resources are already “exploited, overexploited or exhausted& rdquor; in the planetTherefore, the more pressure illegal fishing exerts, the more difficult it will be to promote its recovery. And it is that countries have regulations to control fishing to let nature take its course, precisely to avoid the extinction of species and promote their reproduction. However, this type of activity does not take into account any regulations of the Exclusive Economic Zones (ZEE) of these countries.
According to WWF, illegal fishing is one of the main drivers of the destruction of the marine ecosystem. Furthermore, this practice, which is the “most lucrative & rdquor; against natural resources after timber and miningrepresents a fifth of the world’s fish catches with a value of up to 23.5 billion euros.
A lucrative and opaque business
Not only is it lucrative, but, as the report explains, committing this crime is, to a certain extent, simple. Despite the fact that the companies behind these ships have been identified, the majority continue to operate with “total impunity & rdquor; thanks to the fact that they hide behind “complex business structures & rdquor; and often use tax havens like the Cayman Islands.
Added to this is the lack of rigorous controls to be able to penalize these practices. And it is that according to said report, almost no country requires information about the owners of the vessel when applying for licenses or registering vessels. So, those responsible for such acts are never punished. In fact, the fines are usually imposed directly on the captains and crew members of the ships that have committed the crime, despite the fact that they may have been instigated by their bosses.
It should be remembered that 60% of what we eat in Europe comes from these non-EU countries, which makes the European Union the world’s leading importer of fishery products. Countries like Thailand, Cambodia and many others in Asia or Africa are major exporters of fish, but Europe lacks proper controls over their fleets and catches. The EU has created a sanctioning system based on warning cards (yellow and/or red “cards”, which go as far as a total ban on trade with Europe) for these non-EU countries to get involved in controlling illegal fishing in their respective countries. territories and fleets.
Neither the United States nor Japan have such exhaustive controls as Europe, which makes the Old Continent a pioneer and promoter of the fight against illegal fishing. However, that fight must be much broader and more global. In 2010 a regulation was created that has made this success of Europe possible. The “Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Regulation” has proven to be a powerful tool in preventing illegally caught fish from entering the EU. It is the most ambitious legislation of its kind that pursues the global objective of preventing illegal fishing, but as has been proven, without international collaboration it is impossible to stop these illegal practices.
Reference report, in its entirety at this link.
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