{"id":2020004,"date":"2023-09-02T02:02:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T06:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chinas-fishing-armadas-ensnare-pacific-economies-ecologies-island-leaders\/"},"modified":"2023-09-02T02:14:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T06:14:42","slug":"chinas-fishing-armadas-ensnare-pacific-economies-ecologies-island-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chinas-fishing-armadas-ensnare-pacific-economies-ecologies-island-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"China&#8217;s fishing fleets threaten Pacific economies and ecologies, warn island leaders."},"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%2Fchinas-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=2020004&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\u2063 Armada Threatens Global\u200c Fisheries<\/h2>\n<p>They sweep the sea in 400-ship swarms, Chinese fishing boats that\u2014based on time\u200d of\u2063 year and fishery\u2014include trawlers, purse seiners, gill-netters,\u2062 pole-and-line platforms, squid \u2064jiggers,\u200b tuna longliners, wood-hulled freighters, \u200dand sail-masted junks.<\/p>\n<p>The fleet is shepherded by oil tankers, supply barges, \u201cresearch\u201d vessels, and\u2064 hospital ships, shadowed by Chinese navy warships 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>,\u200d and serviced by massive motherships with 500,000 cubic\u200b feet of frozen storage holds.<\/p>\n<p>Rotating motherships ferry harvests to\u200c China and\u2064 return with provisions on a continuous cycle so the fleet can keep fishing until there are no more fish and \u200cit must \u200bmove on to keep fishing until there are no \u2064more fish in the \u200bnew areas across \u200cthe globe, from Senegal to the South Pacific.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Propaganda\u2064 Game: China&#8217;s Boycott of Japanese Seafood Hits Domestic Fishing Industry<\/strong> &#8211; 8\/30\/2023<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vietnam Protests China\u2019s Unilateral Fishing Ban in South China\u2064 Sea<\/strong> \u200c- 4\/22\/2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Chinese fishing armadas are becoming common and long-lingering sights in international waters just beyond <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.\">200-mile national exclusive economic zones<\/a> (EEZ) off Africa\u2019s and South America\u2019s coasts and across the vast central and\u200d western Pacific, including off\u2014and allegedly in\u2014the \u2063sovereign waters\u2064 of Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth \u200cof Northern Marianas \u2064Islands (CNMI), which are United \u200cStates territories.<\/p>\n<p>Marauding Chinese fishing boats have destroyed\u2062 domestic \u2062commercial industries \u2062and damaged \u2064sports-fishing businesses\u2062 across the Pacific, island leaders told a Congressional panel during meetings\u2064 and field hearings staged on Guam, \u200cSaipan, American Samoa, Palau, and Micronesia between \u200cAug. 23\u2013Aug. 28.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you take\u200b away from the livelihoods of the community, you take away the very vital strength for them to survive.\u2064 That threat is real,\u201d Guam House of Representatives Vice Speaker Tina Barnes (D-Hagatna) told the\u200d House Natural Resources Committee Indo-Pacific\u2064 Task\u2064 Force \u200cduring an Aug. 24 <a href=\"https:\/\/naturalresources.house.gov\/calendar\/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=414736\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Peace Through \u200dStrength: The Strategic Importance of 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 Coast Guard helicopters and\u2063 ships in the Yellow Sea in November \u200d2011, this swarm of Chinese\u200d fishing boats banded together with ropes and bulled into the open sea\u2014 \u200dbehind a shield of Chinese warships. (Dong-a Ilbo\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/blockquote>\n<h2>U.S. Tripling Maritime\u200c Monitoring<\/h2>\n<p>The task force hearings were conducted as\u200c proposed Compacts of Free Association (COFA) with the FSM, RMI, and Palau await Congressional approval in September.<\/p>\n<p>The pacts, renewed every 20 years, are part of the Biden administration\u2019s &#8220;Pacific Partnership\u200d Strategy,&#8221; which calls for\u2063 \u201crenewed U.S. engagement across\u200c the full Pacific\u200c Islands region\u201d \u2064to counter China\u2019s efforts \u201cat democratic erosion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The administration submitted the proposed compacts to Congress in June after deliberations\u2062 during the Trump administration \u2062stalled with the three freely associated states. The agreements are set\u200c to be enacted \u2064when the federal \u2062fiscal year begins Oct. 1.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration\u2019s proposed compacts earmark \u200d$7.1 billion in economic assistance during\u200c the two-decade span for the three island nations with $3.3 billion appropriated for FSM, a\u200c $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\u2063 exchange, the pacts make the island nations strategic allies. The agreements deny area access to Pentagon-decreed adversaries and allow the Department of Defense \u200c(DOD) to maintain key installations and operational ranges within their borders.<\/p>\n<p>A key component\u2064 of the renewed pacts is the United\u200c States pledge to assist in policing EEZ waters with a \u2062boosted U.S. Coast Guard presence that \u200bwill include joint operations and \u201cship rider\u201d programs where marine enforcement officials from host jurisdictions \u2062can direct patrols to where\u2064 violations \u200bare\u2063 suspected.<\/p>\n<p>The pacts triple the \u2064United States\u2019 annual commitment\u200b for maritime regulatory enforcement to $60\u200d million per year for the next 10 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 by President Joe Biden to \u201ccombat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing\u201d in the three Pacific island states and U.S. territorial waters.<\/p>\n<p>That $60 million \u200dannual effort \u200balso boosts the number of FBI agents, National Oceanographic \u2064and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Fisheries agents,\u2063 forensic auditors, tax \u200binvestigators, and, of course, attorneys\u2014sea lawyers, literally\u2014to assist the Pacific nations in\u200b defending their \u2063fisheries\u200c on the waters, in the courts, and in the \u201cpolitical war\u2019s\u201d \u200cforum of public\u200b opinion.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chinas-fishing-armadas-ensnare-pacific-economies-ecologies-island-leaders\/\" title=\"China's fishing fleets threaten Pacific economies and ecologies, warn island leaders.\">administration maintains industrial \u2062overfishing encourages forced labor<\/a>, human trafficking, and drug smuggling, and\u200d \u201cundermine U.S. economic competitiveness, national security,\u200d fisheries\u2064 sustainability, and the\u2064 livelihoods and human rights of fishers around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a virtual address to the <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\u200c the island \u200bnations in efforts to \u201cinvest in marine planning and conservation; and combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; and\u200d enhance\u2062 maritime security,\u201d noting enforcement of maritime pacts such\u2063 as the South Pacific Tuna Treaty is \u201ca cornerstone of political and\u2064 economic cooperation\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Among \u2062initiatives launched\u200d by the United States\u200d is the creation \u200cof an IUU (Illegal, Unreported, \u2063Unregulated) Fishing Action Alliance with the United Kingdom and Canada to coordinate \u201curgent action to improve the monitoring, control, and surveillance of fisheries, increase transparency in fishing fleets and in the seafood market, and build new partnerships that will hold \u2063bad actors \u2062accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The United States has also established an Interagency Working Group on IUU fishing, comprising 21 federal agencies, to develop five-year plans for protecting fisheries \u200cwith participating partners from Ecuador, Panama, Senegal, Taiwan, Vietnam, and across the Pacific\u2014all with fisheries episodically besieged by swarms of Chinese fishing boats that ignore\u2062 most international\u200c fishery agreements, demonstrating\u2062 little concern beyond their daily catch \u2063about the long-term sustainability of fisheries.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"image.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese \u2062fishing boats\" \/><figcaption>A Chinese Coast Guard cutter in the East China Sea menacingly lurks behind a flotilla of 230 Chinese fishing boats that \u2064swarmed the Japanese-controlled, Chinese-claimed Senkaku Islands in \u2062August 2016. (11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters via AP)<\/figcaption><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Invisible Armada Of \u2018Dark\u2062 Ships\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Having severely depleted \u2062stocks in its own coastal waters, over the last decade, the CCP is \u200cdispatching its\u2062 <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> \u200cacross the oceans of the world, especially off West Africa or Latin America where enforcement is weaker, where national and local governments lack resources or inclination\u200c to police waters.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s distant-water fishing \u2063fleet features A-framed trawlers that slowly \u200cpair-net 300-foot \u2063wide swathes of the sea, catching more fish in a \u2064single \u200dsweep than subsistence fishermen catch in a lifetime, or than domestic fishing ships catch in a month.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Food\u2062 and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, there were an estimated 4.1 million commercial fishing vessels on the planet in 2022 with two-thirds registered in Asian nations\u2062 and 2.5 million \u200dcapable \u200bof \u2064distant-water fishing\u2063 over long distances and\u200d times.<\/p>\n<p>While Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and\u200b Russia are among\u2062 nations that subsidize domestic commercial distant-water fishing\u200b industries, since the dawn\u2062 of this century, China has built the world\u2019s largest fishing \u200bfleet, dwarfing all others.<\/p>\n<p>China is the world\u2019s biggest seafood exporter\u200c while consuming more than\u2062 a third of \u200ball fish reported caught each \u2064year, according to the\u200c United Nations, while harvesting half the world\u2019s annual reported catch.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s annual take of the reported global \u2062fishery harvest has dramatically increased over the \u2064past two decades since the collapse of China\u2019s\u2063 domestic fishery and South China Sea fish stocks.<\/p>\n<p>During\u2063 that time, the CCP has amassed a modern, high-tech, industrial armada aided by automation, geospatial \u200dsatellites, and the exploitative mastery of marine sciences to \u200boperate at sea-vacuuming \u200befficiencies, devastating \u200bfisheries in its wake.<\/p>\n<p>Estimates on the size of China\u2019s fishing industry vary from 200,000 to 800,000 commercial ships,\u200d the Food and Agriculture Organization\u200b of the United Nations notes, placing its own estimate at 564,000 \u200bships, making it, far and\u200c away, the world\u2019s largest.<\/p>\n<p>But\u2064 fewer than 2,700\u200d of those\u2062 ships are registered as \u2064deep-water fishing-capable, a number\u200d the CCP is widely believed \u200bto\u200c be under-reporting.<\/p>\n<p>The London-based <a href=\"https:\/\/odi.org\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Overseas\u2063 Development Institute<\/a> \u200b puts China\u2019s distant-fishing fleet closer to 17,000 ships with other monitors offering \u200ceven higher numbers.<\/p>\n<p>By\u2062 comparison, the United States\u2019\u2064 distant-water fishing fleet has fewer than 300 vessels.<\/p>\n<p>This fleet on paper has been \u2064reduced by\u200d nearly \u200chalf since 2013 \u2062when there\u200b were\u200c more than 1 million Chinese fishing vessels operating around the world.<\/p>\n<p>But the fleet on paper is different than \u2063the one tha<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>accompanied by a vast array of fishing vessels. These boats, ranging from trawlers to sail-masted junks, sweep the sea in massive swarms of 400 ships. Oil tankers, supply barges, &#8220;research&#8221; vessels, and hospital ships guide the fleet, while Chinese navy warships and coast guard cutters provide protection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":509,"featured_media":2020005,"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-2020004","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\/2020004","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=2020004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}