{"id":2019772,"date":"2023-09-01T18:53:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T22:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chinas-sea-sweeping-fishing-armadas-ensnare-pacific-economies-ecologies-island-leaders\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T19:03:50","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T23:03:50","slug":"chinas-sea-sweeping-fishing-armadas-ensnare-pacific-economies-ecologies-island-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chinas-sea-sweeping-fishing-armadas-ensnare-pacific-economies-ecologies-island-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"China&#8217;s fishing fleets threaten Pacific economies and ecologies."},"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\">16<\/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%2Fchinas-sea-sweeping-fishing-armadas-ensnare-pacific-economies-ecologies-island-leaders%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=2019772&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--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<h2>China&#8217;s Massive Fishing Armada Threatens Global Fisheries<\/h2>\n<p>They sweep the sea in \u200b400-ship \u2062swarms, \u200dChinese\u200c fishing boats that\u2014based on time of\u200c year and fishery\u2014include trawlers, purse seiners, gill-netters, pole-and-line platforms, squid jiggers,\u2063 tuna longliners, wood-hulled freighters, and sail-masted junks.<\/p>\n<p>The fleet \u200dis shepherded by oil tankers, supply barges, \u201cresearch\u201d vessels, and hospital ships, shadowed by Chinese navy warships\u2064 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pompeo-on-kerry-report-while-i-was-briefing-president-trump-kerry-was-briefing-zarif\/\" title=\"Pompeo On Kerry Report: \u2018While I Was Briefing President Trump, Kerry Was Briefing Zarif\u2019\">coast guard cutters<\/a>, and serviced by massive motherships with 500,000\u200c cubic feet of frozen storage holds.<\/p>\n<p>Rotating motherships ferry harvests to \u200dChina \u2062and\u2064 return with provisions on a continuous cycle so the fleet can \u200ckeep fishing \u2062until there\u2063 are no more fish and it \u200bmust move on to keep fishing until there are no more fish in the new\u2064 areas across the globe, from Senegal to the South Pacific.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Propaganda Game: China&#8217;s Boycott of Japanese Seafood \u200bHits Domestic Fishing Industry<\/strong> &#8211; 8\/30\/2023<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vietnam Protests China\u2019s Unilateral \u200cFishing Ban in South China Sea<\/strong> &#8211; 4\/22\/2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Chinese fishing armadas are becoming common and \u2063long-lingering sights in international waters\u2064 just beyond \u200d200-mile national exclusive economic zones (EEZ) off Africa\u2019s and \u200cSouth America\u2019s coasts and \u2062across the\u2064 vast central and western Pacific, including off\u2014and allegedly in\u2014the sovereign waters of Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI), which are United\u2063 States\u200c territories.<\/p>\n<p>Marauding Chinese fishing boats have destroyed\u200d domestic commercial \u200dindustries and damaged sports-fishing businesses across\u2062 the Pacific, island leaders told a Congressional panel during meetings and field hearings staged on Guam, Saipan,\u200c American Samoa, Palau, and Micronesia between Aug. 23\u2013Aug. 28.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen\u200c you take away from \u2064the livelihoods of the community, you take away the very vital strength for \u2064them to survive. That threat is\u2063 real,\u201d Guam House of\u200b Representatives Vice Speaker \u2064Tina Barnes (D-Hagatna) told the House Natural\u200c Resources Committee Indo-Pacific Task Force during an Aug. 24 <a href=\"https:\/\/naturalresources.house.gov\/calendar\/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=414736\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Peace \u2063Through Strength:\u2064 The Strategic Importance of\u2062 the Pacific Islands to U.S.-led Global Security&#8221;<\/a> hearing in Tamuning, Guam.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"image.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese fishing boats\" \/><figcaption>When confronted by South Korean\u2062 Coast Guard helicopters and ships in the Yellow Sea in \u200bNovember 2011, this swarm \u2064of Chinese fishing boats banded together \u200dwith ropes and bulled into the open sea\u2014 behind a shield of Chinese\u200c warships. (Dong-a\u2064 Ilbo\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/blockquote>\n<h2>U.S.\u2062 Tripling Maritime Monitoring<\/h2>\n<p>The task force hearings were conducted as proposed Compacts of\u2062 Free Association (COFA) with the FSM, RMI, and Palau await\u2064 Congressional approval in September.<\/p>\n<p>The pacts, renewed every 20 years, are part of the Biden \u2064administration\u2019s &#8220;Pacific Partnership Strategy,&#8221; \u2063which calls for \u201crenewed U.S. engagement across the \u2062full Pacific Islands region\u201d to counter\u2063 China\u2019s efforts \u201cat democratic erosion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The administration submitted the proposed compacts to Congress in June after deliberations during the Trump \u200cadministration stalled with the three freely associated states. The agreements are set to be enacted when the federal fiscal year begins Oct. \u20621.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration\u2019s proposed\u200c compacts earmark $7.1 billion in economic assistance during the two-decade span for the three island nations with $3.3 billion \u200dappropriated for FSM, a $1.2 billion increase from its 2003 COFA, and $2.3 billion for RMI, a $1.3 billion increase from its 2003 COFA.<\/p>\n<p>In exchange, the pacts make the island nations strategic allies. The agreements deny area access to Pentagon-decreed adversaries and allow the Department of Defense (DOD) to maintain key installations and operational ranges within their borders.<\/p>\n<p>A key component of the renewed pacts is the United States pledge to assist in policing EEZ \u200cwaters with a boosted U.S. Coast Guard presence that will include joint operations \u200dand \u201cship rider\u201d programs where marine enforcement officials from host jurisdictions can direct patrols to where violations\u2063 are \u2064suspected.<\/p>\n<p>The pacts triple the United States\u2019 annual commitment\u2062 for\u200c maritime regulatory enforcement to $60 million per year for \u2062the next \u200b10 years as part of a June 2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2022\/06\/27\/fact-sheet-president-biden-signs-national-security-memorandum-to-combat-illegal-unreported-and-unregulated-fishing-and-associated-labor-abuses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">security memorandum<\/a> issued\u200b by President Joe Biden to \u201ccombat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing\u201d\u200c in the three Pacific island states and U.S. territorial waters.<\/p>\n<p>That $60 million annual effort also boosts \u2063the number of FBI agents, National\u2064 Oceanographic \u200cand Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Fisheries agents, forensic auditors, tax investigators, and, of course, attorneys\u2014sea lawyers, literally\u2014to assist the Pacific nations in defending their fisheries on the waters, in the courts, and in\u200b the \u201cpolitical war\u2019s\u201d forum of public opinion.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chinas-sea-sweeping-fishing-armadas-ensnare-pacific-economies-ecologies-island-leaders\/\" title=\"China's fishing fleets threaten Pacific economies and ecologies.\">administration maintains industrial overfishing encourages forced labor<\/a>, human trafficking, and drug smuggling, and \u201cundermine U.S. economic\u2062 competitiveness, national security, fisheries sustainability, and the livelihoods and human rights of fishers around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In \u2062a\u2063 virtual address to\u200c the \u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forumsec.org\/2022\/07\/17\/report-communique-of-the-51st-pacific-islands-forum-leaders-meeting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">51st annual Pacific Islands Forum<\/a> in Suva, Fiji, in June 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/speeches-remarks\/2022\/07\/12\/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-pacific-islands-forum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> the United States would assist the island nations in efforts\u2064 to\u200b \u201cinvest in marine planning and conservation; and combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; and enhance maritime security,\u201d noting enforcement of maritime pacts such as the South Pacific Tuna Treaty\u200c is \u201ca cornerstone of political and economic cooperation\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Among initiatives launched by the United States is the creation \u200cof \u200dan IUU (Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated) Fishing \u2063Action Alliance with the United Kingdom and Canada to coordinate \u201curgent action to\u2063 improve \u2063the\u2063 monitoring, control,\u2064 and surveillance of fisheries, increase transparency in fishing fleets and in the seafood market, and build new partnerships that will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/irs-official-in-charge-of-87000-new-agents-played-key-role-in-obama-era-targeting-scandal\/\" title=\"IRS Official in Charge of 87,000 New Agents Played Key Role in Obama-Era Targeting Scandal\">hold bad actors accountable<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The United States has also established\u2062 an Interagency Working Group on IUU\u2064 fishing, comprising 21 federal \u200dagencies, to develop \u200bfive-year plans for protecting fisheries with \u2063participating partners from Ecuador, Panama, Senegal, Taiwan, Vietnam, and across the Pacific\u2014all with fisheries episodically \u2064besieged by swarms of Chinese fishing boats that ignore most international fishery\u2064 agreements, demonstrating little \u200dconcern beyond\u200c their daily catch about the long-term sustainability\u200b of fisheries.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"image.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese fishing \u200cboats\" \/><figcaption>A Chinese Coast \u200cGuard cutter in the East China \u2063Sea \u2063menacingly lurks behind a\u2064 flotilla of 230\u2062 Chinese fishing boats that swarmed the Japanese-controlled, Chinese-claimed Senkaku Islands in August 2016. (11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters via AP)<\/figcaption><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Invisible Armada Of \u2018Dark Ships\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Having \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-slave-labor-fueled-chinese-fleet-destroying-fishing-industry-in-west-africa\/\" title=\"Report: 'Slave Labor'-Fueled Chinese Fleet Destroying Fishing Industry in West Africa\">severely depleted stocks<\/a> in its own coastal waters, over the last\u200c decade, the CCP is dispatching its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/british-pm-sold-out-fish-in-brexit-trade-deal-fishermen-say\/\" title=\"British PM sold out fish in Brexit trade deal, fishermen say\">fishing industry<\/a> across \u200bthe oceans\u200d of the world, especially off West Africa or Latin \u200cAmerica where enforcement is weaker, where national\u200b and \u200dlocal governments lack resources or inclination to police waters.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s distant-water fishing fleet features A-framed trawlers that slowly \u200bpair-net \u2064300-foot \u200dwide swathes of\u2064 the sea, catching more\u2064 fish in a single sweep than subsistence fishermen catch in a lifetime, or than domestic fishing ships catch in a month.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there were an estimated 4.1 million commercial fishing vessels on the planet in 2022\u200c with \u2062two-thirds registered in Asian nations and 2.5 million capable \u200bof distant-water fishing over long distances and times.<\/p>\n<p>While Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Russia are among \u2062nations that subsidize domestic commercial\u2064 distant-water\u200c fishing industries, since the dawn of this century, China has built the world\u2019s largest fishing fleet, dwarfing \u2064all others.<\/p>\n<p>China is the world\u2019s \u200cbiggest seafood exporter while consuming more than a third of all fish reported caught each year, according to the United Nations, while harvesting half the world\u2019s annual reported\u200b catch.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s annual take of the reported global \u200cfishery harvest has dramatically increased over the past two decades since the collapse of China\u2019s domestic fishery and \u2063South China Sea\u200d fish stocks.<\/p>\n<p>During that time, the CCP has amassed a modern, high-tech, industrial armada aided by\u200d automation, geospatial satellites, and the exploitative mastery of marine sciences to operate at\u200c sea-vacuuming efficiencies, devastating fisheries in its wake.<\/p>\n<p>Estimates on \u2063the size of China\u2019s fishing\u200c industry vary from 200,000 to\u200d 800,000 commercial ships, the Food and Agriculture \u2062Organization of the United Nations notes, placing its own estimate \u200cat 564,000 ships, making it, far and away, the world\u2019s largest.<\/p>\n<p>But fewer \u2062than 2,700 of\u2062 those ships are registered as deep-water \u2063fishing-capable, a\u2063 number the CCP\u200d is widely believed to be under-reporting.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2063 London-based <a href=\"https:\/\/odi.org\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Overseas Development Institute<\/a> puts China\u2019s distant-fishing fleet closer to 17,000 ships with other monitors offering even higher numbers.<\/p>\n<p>By comparison, the United\u200b States\u2019 distant-water fishing fleet has fewer than 300 vessels.<\/p>\n<p>This fleet on paper has been reduced by nearly half since 2013 when\u2062 there\u2063 were more than 1 million Chinese fishing vessels operating around the\u200d world.<\/p>\n<p>But \u2063the fleet \u200con paper is different than the one\u2063 tha<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>accompanied by a vast array of fishing vessels. These boats, numbering 400, navigate the sea in groups, targeting different fish species depending on the season and location. The fleet consists of various types of boats, including trawlers, purse seiners, gill-netters, and more. It is supported by oil tankers, supply barges, research vessels, hospital ships, and guarded by Chinese navy warships and coast guard cutters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":509,"featured_media":2019773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2019772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019772","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\/509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}