<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/14/why-the-worlds-most-fertile-fishing-ground-is-facing-a-unique-and-dire-threat>
"Having grossly overfished its own regional waters, notably the China seas,
China’s fleets are now taking huge quantities of tuna from the world’s most
fertile fishing ground. Since 2012 the Chinese Pacific fishing fleet has grown
by more than 500%.
A survey of boats operating in the Pacific in 2016 found that Chinese-flagged
vessels far outstripped those of any other country. China had 290 industrial
vessels licensed to operate in the region at the time, more than a quarter of
the total, and more than the 240 from all the Pacific nations combined.
Their longline fleets, targeting albacore and yellow fin, dominate EEZs in
places such as Vanuatu and the high seas. Silky and whitetip sharks are a
favourite “bycatch”, their fins kept and the rest dumped.
In the past 10 years China and Hong Kong have sought to close down the shark
fin trade, partly by banning the consumption of shark fin soup at government
functions, and through public efforts to publicly stigmatise it. The continuing
decline in oceanic shark numbers points to limited success so far.
According to WCPFC records, China has more than 600 vessels out of a total of
1,300 foreign-operated ships licensed to fish in the area."
Via Glyn Moody.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
