Coastal fishing communities ‘facing disaster’

Industrialised countries’ distant-water fishing fleets are plundering the fish stocks of low-income countries, with China’s fleet much larger than previously thought, a new study reveals.

虽然过度捕捞是一个全球问题，但海外发展研究所（ODI）表示，中国遥远的水舰队的“规模和全球存在”意味着它是该公司中最重要的演员fisheriescrisis.

Globally, 90 per cent of commercially-exploited marine fish stocks are either overfished or fished to their maximum sustainable limits, Food and Agriculture Organizationdata shows. Nearly80 per centof industrial fishing in the national waters of low-income countries is reportedly carried out by vessels flagged to higher-income countries.

“靠近我们独家经济区域的任何过度剥削都会对我们的捕鱼利益产生影响。”

Pablo Filippo, natural resources law specialist, University of Buenos Aires

Using big data analysis, ensemble algorithms and geographic information systems,the ODI foundthat China’s distant-water fishing fleet was between five and eight times larger than previous estimates, with about 17,000 identified vessels – 12,490 of them observed outside Chinese waters.

遥远的水渔船是在另一个国家或海洋中运营的那些在独家经济区内运营的船只。发现与生态系统长期损害有关的拖网渔船是最常见的远处渔船。

Fish stock crash

ODI的研究助理MirenGutiérrez表示：“除非地方和国际层面的政治家听取科学研究和事实，否则发展中国家的捕鱼社区迫在眉睫。SciDev.Net.

“数以百万计的人依靠鱼类和整个经济体的蛋白质依靠这项活动来工作和福祉。如果我们找不到集体解决方案，那么对于中国舰队来说，这也将是一场彻底的灾难。

Chinese fishing vessels are often seen in international waters surrounding Argentina’s exclusive economic zone, says Pablo Filippo, a specialist in natural resources law from the University of Buenos Aires, who was not involved in the study.

“尽管他们在海洋中钓鱼，那里有捕鱼的自由并且没有受到监管，但他们采用了迁徙的资源 - 例如，普通的无聊和鱿鱼 - 以及在我们独家经济区附近地区的任何过度剥削都有一个经济和生态系统对我们的捕鱼兴趣产生影响。”他补充说。

“对于几个具有运营限制的发展中国家，可以控制其海上空间或与其独家经济区相邻的地区，这是一个严重的问题。”

Transparency

ODI investigators say that the ownership and operational control of the Chinese fishing fleet is “complex and opaque”.

“From the analysis of a sub-sample of 6122 vessels, we found that only eight companies own or operate more than 50 vessels each. Most of the ships are owned by small and medium enterprises, many of them are subsidiaries of large corporations for tax purposes,” Gutiérrez says.

Improving transparency is the most cost-effective means to identify illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishery activities, says Antonia Leroy, WWF Europe head of ocean policy, on behalf of the EU IUU Coalition.*

勒罗伊告诉SciDev.Netthat electronic systems monitoring global imports, with traceability in supply chains, could impact illegal fishing and enable customs agencies and retailers to ensure that fish entering their markets has been caught legally and sustainably.

International law

粮农组织拉丁美洲和加勒比海办公室的渔业和水产养殖部的哈维尔·维拉努埃瓦（Javier Villanueva）告诉SciDev.Netthat a major challenge remains “the adoption and effective implementation of international instruments, so that the international community can work together to ensure the sustainable management of fisheries resources and conserve marine biodiversity”.

Among these instruments, Villanueva says that theAgreement on Port State Measures(PSMA) provides Latin American countries an opportunity to jointly curb IUU fishing. The agreement targets IUU fishing by preventing vessels from using ports in an effort to block illegal products from reaching markets.

The Chinese fleet most frequently operates in the Northwest Pacific, with a significant impact on Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia, the ODI found. The most intense activities are in squid fisheries in the Southwest Atlantic and Southeast Pacific, especially coastal Peru.

An estimated 20 per cent of the global IUU catch comes from Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

这件作品由Scidev.net的拉丁美洲和加勒比海桌制作.

*This piece was amended on 01 July 2020. The article incorrectly attributed Leroy’s comments to Coalition colleague Sophia Scherer.