{"id":1426368,"date":"2022-04-08T21:14:40","date_gmt":"2022-04-09T01:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1426368"},"modified":"2022-04-08T21:14:43","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T01:14:43","slug":"report-slave-labor-fueled-chinese-fleet-destroying-fishing-industry-in-west-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-slave-labor-fueled-chinese-fleet-destroying-fishing-industry-in-west-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: &#039;Slave Labor&#039;-Fueled Chinese Fleet Destroying Fishing Industry in West Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freport-slave-labor-fueled-chinese-fleet-destroying-fishing-industry-in-west-africa%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1426368&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\"><span>The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ejfoundation.org\/\"><span>Environmental Justice Foundation<\/span><\/a><span> (EJF), a London-based non-governmental organization, this week published a report on the destructive, largely unregulated, and often illegal operations of China\u2019s immense deep-water fishing fleet. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>An especially disturbing chapter of the report dealt with the harmful impact of Chinese fishing on West African nations, where entire coastal communities tremble on the verge of economic collapse thanks to China\u2019s rapacious practices.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>The report, titled <\/span><i><span>The Ever-Widening Net: Mapping the Scale, Nature, and Corporate Structures of Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing by the Chinese Distant-Water Fleet, <\/span><\/i><span>accused China of creating a huge fleet to fish outside China\u2019s own depleted waters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This Chinese distant-water fleet (CDWF) employs \u201cdestructive practices such as bottom trawling and the use of forced, bonded and slave labor and trafficked crew\u201d to steal huge harvests of fish from communities along the African coast.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The EJF blamed \u201ca lack of transparency and the opacity of seafood supply chains, limited monitoring, control, and surveillance capacity, poor governance, and corruption\u201d for enabling these practices to continue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>The report took a dim view of distant-water fleets in general but singled out China for its \u201csize and global reach\u201d and its penchant for overfishing in vulnerable regions like the African coast.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The most alarming case study for China\u2019s practices was Ghana, where Chinese industrial fishing has so severely depleted stocks that Ghanian fishermen come home with empty boats and have little choice but to buy their own local fish back from Chinese corporations. This situation is so common that Ghanaians have a word for it: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oceanographicmagazine.com\/features\/ghanaian-saiko\/\"><i><span>saiko<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span>China moved so aggressively into Ghana that EJF estimated almost 90 percent of the local trawler fleet is now controlled by Chinese corporations, operating through Ghanaian front companies. Ghana\u2019s coastal canoe fishermen can hardly hope to compete with these trawlers; according to EJF, over 70 percent of the local fishermen say their living conditions have declined over the past five years, and half of them said they \u201chave gone without sufficient food in the last year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_14050732\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2020\/07\/boats.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Indonesian fish worker receives a bag from another boat at a local fishing port near the coastline of Keelung on September 28, 2015, as typhoon Dujuan approaches Taiwan. (Photo credit should read SAM YEH\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>The report revealed that 70 percent of the canoe fishermen said their equipment has been damaged by close encounters with the trawlers. Some report being driven away from the trawlers with \u201cthreats and abuse.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>The report accused Chinese trawlers of deliberately targeting small fish populations close to shore and wiping them out by catching juvenile fish before they have a chance to reproduce. This leaves local communities with little choice but to engage in the <\/span><i><span>saiko <\/span><\/i><span>trade of buying frozen fish harvested by the Chinese in deeper waters, where the canoes cannot reach.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The impact of these activities on coastal communities is catastrophic. EJF noted that Ghanaian women, who usually handle the shore-side end of the canoe-fishing business, are turning to prostitution in growing numbers because the fishermen come home empty-handed.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>The report noted that other human rights abuses by the CDWF are \u201cbecoming apparent\u201d as the fleet is subjected to increased international scrutiny. In May 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection banned imports from China\u2019s Dalian Ocean Fishing company because it was allegedly abusing Indonesian migrant workers aboard its vessels.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>EJF interviewed Indonesian crew members who reported \u201cphysical abuse, intimidation and threats, wage withholding and deductions, debt bondage, abusive working and living conditions, and excessive working overtime.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Aboard one especially notorious Chinese vessel, the Indonesian crew reported sharing one toilet between 22 men, having their passports confiscated, and being forced to eat \u201cfish that was otherwise used as bait\u201d chased down with \u201cpoorly treated saltwater.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>The Indonesians also said the Chinese crew beat them during a hellish voyage that lasted 13 months because the ship was able to transfer its catch and receive supplies at sea. Four of the Indonesian crew of this vessel died, one of them aboard the ship after the captain refused to return to port for medical care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Ghanaians who worked on Chinese ships reported similar abuses, along with \u201csqualid\u201d living quarters, \u201cfood with very little nutritional value,\u201d and \u201cbarely potable water\u201d that frequently caused illness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIllegal fishing and overcapacity in the Ghanaian trawl sector is having catastrophic impacts on coastal communities across the country,\u201d EJF CEO Max Schmid told <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/a\/fishy-business-report-details-chinese-fleet-s-illegal-operations-in-west-africa-\/6519387.html\"><span>Voice of America News<\/span><\/a><span> (VOA) on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Ever-Widening Net <\/span><\/i><span>concluded with a plea to the Chinese government to keep better track of its deep-water fleet\u2019s activities, make the ownership of the vessels more transparent, and cooperate with international agencies on ecological and human rights issues. As VOA suggested, these pleas are likely to fall on deaf ears because Chinese officials and state media resolutely deny any sort of problem with their deep-water fleet or industrial fishing practices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The EJF report offered some advice to local governments and national authorities as well, including a plethora of suggestions for stripping away the paperwork screen that China has constructed over its fishing fleet, enforcing license laws more strictly, and passing regulations against the use of destructive industrial fishing equipment. A system that would allow foreign and migrant CDWF crew members to safely and anonymously report abuses was also recommended.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), a London-based non-governmental organization, this week published a report on the destructive, largely unregulated, and often illegal operations of China\u2019s immense deep-water fishing fleet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1426368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1426368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1426368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1426368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1426368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1426368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1426368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}