DARK FLEET

• Published date: 09 October 2021
• Publication title: Northern Advocate, The (Whangarei, New Zealand)

“Welcome to the party!” says third officer Filippo Marini as the spectacle floods the ship’s bridge during his overnight watch.

It’s the conservationists’ first look at the world’s largest fishing fleet: nearly 300 Chinese vessels that have sailed halfway across the globe to lure the elusive Humboldt squid from the Pacific Ocean’s inky depths.

As Italian hip hop blares across the bridge, Marini scribbles the electronic IDs of 37 fishing vessels that pop up as green triangles on the Ocean Warrior’s radar onto a sheet of paper, before they disappear.

Immediately he detects a number of red flags: two of the boats have gone “dark”, their mandatory tracking device that gives a ship’s position switched off. Still others are broadcasting two different radio numbers — a sign of possible tampering.

The Associated Press with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision accompanied the Ocean Warrior this northern summer on an 18-day voyage to observe up close for the first time the Chinese distant-water fishing fleet on the high seas off South America.

The vigilante patrol was prompted by an international outcry last summer when hundreds of Chinese vessels were found fishing for squid near the long-isolated Galapagos Islands, a Unesco world heritage site that is home to some of the most endangered species.

China’s deployment to this remote expanse is no accident. Decades of overfishing have pushed its overseas fleet, the world’s largest, ever farther from home. Officially capped at 3000 vessels, the fleet might actually consist of thousands more.

Beijing says it has zero tolerance for illegal fishing and points to recent actions such as a temporary moratorium on high-seas squid fishing as evidence. The critics of China, including the US and Europe, for decades raided the oceans themselves.

But the sheer size of the Chinese fleet and its recent arrival to the Americas has stirred fears that it could exhaust marine stocks. There’s also concern that in the absence of effective controls, illegal fishing will soar. The US Coast Guard recently said illegal fishing had replaced piracy as its top maritime security threat.

Meanwhile, activists are seeking restrictions on fishing as part of negotiations for the first High Seas Treaty, which could dramatically boost international co-operation on the traditionally lawless waters that comprise nearly half of the planet.

WORST OFFENDERSOf the 30 vessels the AP observed up close, 24 had a history of labour-abuse accusations, convictions for illegal fishing or showed signs of possibly violating maritime law. Collectively, these issues underscore how the open ocean around the Americas — where the US has long dominated and China is jockeying for influence — have lured the seafood industry’s worst offenders.

Specifically, 16 ships sailed with their mandatory safety transponders turned off, broadcast multiple electronic IDs or transmitted information that didn’t match listed name or location — discrepancies often associated with illegal fishing, although the AP saw no evidence of that.

Six ships were owned by companies accused of forced labour. Nine ships face accusations of illegal fishing elsewhere, while one giant fuel tanker servicing the fleet, the Ocean Ruby, is operated by the affiliate of a company suspected of selling fuel to North Korea, violating UN sanctions. Yet another, the Fu Yuan Yu 7880, is run by an affiliate of a Nasdaq-traded company, Pingtan Marine Enterprise, whose Chinese executives had their US visas...