{"id":12552,"date":"2021-09-28T04:43:03","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T11:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=12552"},"modified":"2021-09-28T04:43:03","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T11:43:03","slug":"great-wall-of-lights-chinas-sea-power-on-darwins-doorstep-associated-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=12552","title":{"rendered":"“Great Wall of Lights: China’s sea power on Darwin’s doorstep”. Associated Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Joshua Goodman,\u00a0September 24, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

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ABOARD THE OCEAN WARRIOR<\/a> in the eastern Pacific Ocean (AP) \u2014 It\u2019s 3 a.m., and after five days plying through the high seas, the Ocean Warrior is surrounded by an atoll of blazing lights that overtakes the nighttime sky.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to the party!\u201d says third officer Filippo Marini as the spectacle floods the ship\u2019s bridge and interrupts his overnight watch.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the conservationists\u2019 first glimpse of the world\u2019s largest fishing fleet: an armada of nearly 300 Chinese vessels that have sailed halfway across the globe to lure the elusive Humboldt squid from the Pacific Ocean\u2019s inky depths.<\/p>\n

\"Filippo<\/a><\/p>\n
Filippo Marini, the third officer aboard the Ocean Warrior, shields his eyes from the light of several Chinese-flagged vessels fishing for squid at night on the high seas off the west coast of South America on July 19, 2021. Marini is an activist for Sea Shepherd, a Netherlands-based oceans conservation group. (AP Photo\/Joshua Goodman)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As Italian hip hop blares across the bridge, Marini furiously scribbles the electronic IDs of 37 fishing vessels that pop up as green triangles on the Ocean Warrior\u2019s radar onto a sheet of paper, before they disappear.<\/p>\n

Immediately he detects a number of red flags: two of the boats have gone \u2018dark,\u2019 their mandatory tracking device that gives a ship\u2019s position switched off. Still others are broadcasting two different radio numbers \u2014 a sign of possible tampering.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision accompanied the Ocean Warrior this 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.<\/p>\n

The vigilante patrol was prompted by an international outcry last summer<\/a> when hundreds of Chinese vessels were discovered fishing for squid near the long-isolated Galapagos Islands, a UNESCO world heritage site that inspired 19th-century naturalist Charles Darwin and is home to some of the world\u2019s most endangered species, from giant tortoises to hammerhead sharks.<\/p>\n

\"Carmen<\/a><\/p>\n
Carmen McGregor, second officer of the Ocean Warrior, checks the radar system on July 18, 2021, as part of the ship\u2019s 18-day voyage to observe up close the activities of the Chinese distant water fishing fleet off the west coast of South America. (AP Photo\/Joshua Goodman)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

China\u2019s deployment to this remote expanse is no accident. Decades of overfishing have pushed its overseas fleet, the world\u2019s largest, ever farther from home. Officially capped at 3,000 vessels, the fleet might actually consist of thousands more<\/a>. Keeping such a sizable flotilla at sea, sometimes for years at a time, is at once a technical feat made possible through billions in state subsidies and a source of national pride akin to what the U.S. space program was for generations of Americans.<\/p>\n

Beijing says it has zero tolerance for illegal fishing<\/a> and points to recent actions such as a temporary moratorium on high seas squid fishing as evidence of its environmental stewardship. Those now criticizing China, including the U.S. and Europe, for decades raided the oceans themselves.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s also concern that in the absence of effective controls, illegal fishing will soar. The U.S. Coast Guard recently declared that illegal fishing had replaced piracy as its top maritime security threat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, activists are seeking restrictions on fishing as part of negotiations underway on a first-ever High Seas Treaty, which could dramatically boost international cooperation on the traditionally lawless waters that comprise nearly half of the planet.<\/p>\n

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  • \u2013 VIDEO: Sea of lights | Tracking China’s fishing fleet<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

    Of the 30 vessels the AP observed up close, 24 had a history of labor abuse accusations, past convictions for illegal fishing or showed signs of possibly violating maritime law. Collectively, these issues underscore how the open ocean around the Americas \u2014 where the U.S. has long dominated and China is jockeying for influence \u2014 have become a magnet for the seafood industry\u2019s worst offenders.<\/p>\n

    Specifically, 16 ships either sailed with their mandatory safety transponders turned off, broadcast multiple electronic IDs or transmitted information that didn\u2019t match its listed name or location \u2014 discrepancies that are often associated with illegal fishing, although the AP saw no evidence that they were engaged in illicit activity.<\/p>\n

    Six ships were owned by companies accused of forced labor including one vessel, the Chang Tai 802, whose Indonesian crew said they had been stuck at sea for years.<\/p>\n

    Another nine ships face accusations of illegal fishing elsewhere in the world 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 <\/a>in violation of United Nations sanctions. Yet another, the Fu Yuan Yu 7880, is operated by an affiliate of a Nasdaq-traded company, Pingtan Marine Enterprise, whose Chinese executives had their U.S. visas cancelled for alleged links to human trafficking.<\/p>\n