China touts ‘responsible’ fishing despite worst offender tag

MANILA, Philippines — Ranked as the worst illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing offender in the Pacific, China has maintained that it is a “responsible” fishing country that strictly implements the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China was ranked as the worst IUU fishing offender in the world by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime.

Chinese ports are ranked as the most likely to process IUU-caught fish, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

As the country with the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet, China has a special responsibility to follow international rules and norms, and to live up to its commitments.

During a recent telephonic press briefing, the US Department of State’s Asia-Pacific Media Hub said China is ranked as the worst IUU fishing offender in the Pacific, plundering the basic livelihood resources of the countries in the region and threatening their stability, food security and economic development and the basic international order.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry denied the report, saying China has “zero tolerance” for violations of relevant laws and regulations committed by distant fishing vessels.

“As a responsible fishing country, China adheres to the path of green and sustainable development, the science-based conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources, and the sustainable development of global fishing industries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a press conference in Beijing last Friday.

Hua also claimed that China has long been in close communication and cooperation with countries in the region, and that Beijing is committed to preserving the production order of marine fisheries and marine ecological environment.

“China strictly implements the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and multilateral fishing agreements to which it is a party,” Hua said.

“We have fully fulfilled flag state obligations, observed port state measures, placed strict supervision and control on distant water fisheries, strengthened international cooperation, and done a great deal of fruitful work in jointly combating illegal fishing and promoting the sustainable development of fishery resources with other countries,” she added.

China’s practice of fishery management, according to the foreign ministry spokesperson, is fully consistent with the requirements of international law.

Hua noted that China strictly complies with the management of regional fisheries management organizations in fishing in relevant high seas, and the vessel position monitoring and other measures taken by the Chinese side are “stricter than international standards.”

“Our compliance record is spoken highly of by all fisheries organizations,” she said. “As per bilateral arrangements with the coastal states concerned, China conducts fishing activities in their exclusive economic zones, which has produced good economic and social results.”

David Feith, deputy assistant secretary of state for regional and security policy and multilateral affairs in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said China has the largest distant-water fishing fleet in the world that is subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party.

Chinese-flagged fishing vessels illegally fish in the exclusive economic zones of coastal states around the globe, from the Western and Central Pacific, to the coasts of Africa and South America, including fishing without permission and also overfishing licensing agreements, according to Feith.

“In the South China Sea, the (People’s Republic of China) is responsible for widespread devastation to the marine environment around militarized artificial islands,” he said in a telephone press briefing.

State Department officials called the alleged use of the COVID-19 vaccine by China on countries for the release of Chinese fishermen detained for trespassing in their waters as “disturbing.”

Feith stressed that Beijing also acts to undermine other nations’ legitimate attempts to enforce the law.

“About the vaccine coercion example, we’ve seen this in some of the press reporting, for example, and we find it, unfortunately, a sort of characteristic kind of a move given some of the consistently coercive diplomacy that we’ve unfortunately seen from Beijing toward its neighbors and around the world,” he said.

David Hogan, acting director of the Office of Marine Conservation, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, said China does not fulfill its responsibilities and does not enforce the rules for its own vessels, turning a blind eye to the activities of the vessels.