FISHY BUSINESS: CHINA'S MIXED SIGNALS ON SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES
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FISHY BUSINESS:
C H I N A’ S M I X E D S I G N A L S
O N S U S TA I N A B L E F I S H E R I E S
Graeme Smith
M
Y INITIATION INTO the politics settlement. In the nineteenth century,
of the demand for Pacific ships from Mother England offloaded
seafood in the People’s Republic of their unfortunate convict cargo and
China (PRC) began with a Packard filled their holds with BDM harvested
Foundation–funded project led by in the Kimberley region of Western
former colleagues from the University
Australia and beyond,1 as well as
of Technology Sydney. Our focus
sandalwood from Tonga, Fiji, and
was the humble, slow-moving sea
elsewhere in the South Pacific.2 This
cucumber, or bêche-de-mer (BDM),
made the return journey far more
the dried body wall of the echinoderm
profitable than the outward one.
that is beloved throughout the Chinese
The title of our final report,
world (and almost nowhere else). BDM,
Interactive governance analysis of
also known as trepang, was the iron
ore of the eighteenth and nineteenth the bêche-de-mer ‘fish chain’ from
centuries in Australia–China trade, Papua New Guinea to Asian markets,3
with trade between Macassans and resembles many people’s first culinary
Aboriginal peoples pre-dating white experience of sea cucumbers: a bit218 bland. The story was anything but more affordable.5 At its peak in the
219
bland, however. mid-2000s, PNG was the world’s
From exporters in Milne Bay third-largest supplier for the Hong
in eastern Papua New Guinea (PNG) Kong market. From Tonga to Tuvalu,
preyed on by local pirates to importers divers were taking ever-greater risks
CONTRADICTION Signals on Sustainable Fisheries
in Guangzhou and Hong Kong at greater depths to access valuable
CHINA STORY YEARBOOK Fishy Business: China’s Mixed
frustrated by the variable quality of species such as the white teatfish
the final product, and PNG provincial sea cucumber — often with deadly
Graeme Smith
government officials struggling to consequences. After the PNG fishery
manage the industry, the supply chain abruptly closed, hunger stalked places
is rife with problems. Or, in the case like Milne Bay. Villagers — by then
of PNG, the dormant supply chain, accustomed to spending weeks at a
because sea cucumber populations had time fishing on remote coral reefs —
crashed under the pressure of demand had made the economically rational
from buyers in the PRC. On finding that decision to neglect their subsistence
nearly all stocks had dropped by more gardens for this more lucrative
than 80 percent in the previous five trade. With sea cucumber fishing
years, the PNG Government imposed a banned, they and their families found
fishing ban in 2009 that stayed in force themselves struggling on one meal
for eight years — a story repeated a day and relying on unappetising
throughout the Pacific, including in ‘starvation foods’ like banana suckers
Tonga and Vanuatu. (secondary shoots from the banana
Because of the historical ubiquity palm). Even PNG’s Chinese community
of sea cucumbers in the South Pacific was affected; with no cash flowing into
before 2009, BDM was the main the coastal and island communities,
source of income for half a million Chinese-run trade stores (see the
villagers across PNG’s coast and China Story Yearbook 2017: Prosperity,
islands, driven in part by the appetite Forum, ‘Dreams of Prosperity in
of China’s officials and growing Papua New Guinea’, pp.131–136)
middle class for luxury seafood.4 One found themselves struggling, and
of the first impacts of Xi Jinping’s many shopkeepers simply returned to
习近平 anti-corruption and austerity Fujian, leaving some villagers with a
campaigns was that BDM became long trek just to buy basic goods.While it provided a livelihood The exact size of China’s DWF
for many in PNG, the trade in sea fleet is unknown. A 2020 report by the
cucumbers paled in comparison with UK-based global think tank Overseas
the lucrative tuna trade. The tuna trade Development Institute claimed China
has less impact on island communities had 16,966 DWF ships, even though
because the boats are generally crewed PRC sources put the number at or below
by foreign nationals and tuna cannot 3,000 vessels.8 China is indisputably
be accessed on a commercial scale the world’s largest DWF fleet — and
without huge upfront investment. the most prone to illegal, unreported,
But the trade is not without danger, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, even
as shown by a series of investigative outstripping the notorious Taiwanese
reports funded by the Judith Nielson fleet. A 2021 report to the US Congress,
cited China and Taiwan alongside
Foundation in 2021.6 These detail the
Costa Rica, Guyana, Mexico, Russia,
suspicious deaths of fishery observers
and Senegal for illegal fishing, bycatch
at sea, including on Taiwanese-flagged
of endangered species, and shark
vessels, and the observers’ near
catches on the high seas.9 There is
impossible role in ensuring boats
no doubting the enthusiasm of PRC
fish according to the rules when the
state actors for accessing Pacific
regulators they represent are often
fishing grounds; a recent Ministry of
thousands of kilometres away and
Commerce investment guide to PNG
facing a captain and crew looking
enthusiastically described its exclusive
to maximise their earnings. Of the
marine fishery zone:
sixteen unsolved deaths listed on the
Association for Professional Observers
[A]pproximately 2.4 million
website, nine were men from PNG, square kilometers … an important
Fiji, and Kiribati.7 With the emergence Pacific fishery, rich in tuna,
of the PRC’s distant-water fishing prawns, lobsters, reef fish and
(DWF) fleet as the dominant one in sea cucumbers. The tuna catch is
the Pacific, the reflagging of ships and about 150,000 to 200,000 metric
the proliferation of shell companies tons, accounting for about 20–30%
further hinder transparency, including of catch in the Pacific and 10% of
about their impact on fish populations. the world’s total catch .220 PNG looms large in China’s ‘going out’ to ‘coming home’. Also:
221
DWF ambitions, and in its goals never get between a local government
to develop a ‘blue economy’ and and a subsidy.
become a ‘maritime great power’,10 as Three provinces dominate the
announced by former president Hu DWF sector: Zhejiang, Shandong,
CONTRADICTION Signals on Sustainable Fisheries
Jintao 胡锦涛 in 2012 and embraced and Fujian. The DWF sector started
CHINA STORY YEARBOOK Fishy Business: China’s Mixed
by Xi Jinping within the framework out largely controlled by a state-
of the Maritime Silk Road. Much of owned enterprise, the China National
Graeme Smith
the rhetoric around these issues is Fisheries Corporation. Over time,
impenetrable, even by Communist private operators came to dominate
Party of China (CPC) standards, with the sector, albeit backed by provincial
boilerplate modernisation jargon and city governments anxious to
(‘build a great maritime power’ generate revenue and find work for
建设海洋强国) layered on top of catch- fishers laid off in the restructuring of
all expressions like ‘blue economy’. China’s domestic fishing fleet.12 In the
But whereas the rhetoric of the Hu early Hu era, the DWF sector’s lobbying
era pointed to the intrinsic value of efforts paid off and it secured lucrative
environmental protection, today, the fuel subsidies that helped make
focus is more on the economic benefits the industry profitable. 13
All three
of an unpolluted environment,11 as provinces have established DWF bases
captured in Xi’s phrase ‘green water to support fishing on the high seas and
and green mountains mean mountains in exclusive economic zones. These
of gold and silver’ 绿水青山就是金山 provincial governments, supported by
银山 from his marathon work report to the Ministry of Agriculture under the
the Nineteenth CPC Congress in 2017. broad umbrella of the Belt and Road
The issues plaguing the PRC’s Initiative, are making a major effort
DWF sector draw out familiar themes to build DWF bases to provide the
in Chinese politics: the impossibility of PRC fleet with processing plants and
strictly regulating PRC enterprises far other infrastructure; a recent Pacific
from home, the requirement to appear example was the refurbishment of the
to be a ‘responsible great power’, and SinoVan fisheries plant in Vanuatu,
the obligation to secure resources for funded by a loan from the Export–
the domestic market — a shift from Import Bank of China. The plant,officially launched by Vanuatu’s Prime to rein in IUU fishing: setting up a
Minister Charlot Salwai in 2019, will be blacklist of violators, trialling its own
run as a joint venture between China observer system on boats, and even
National Fisheries Corporation and the putting a moratorium on squid fishing.
Government of Vanuatu.14 But new technologies are bringing
In the Illegal, Unreported and to light both the ingenuity of rogue
Unregulated Fishing Index produced mainland fishers in avoiding detection
by the Global Initiative against and the ineffectiveness of new
Transnational Organized Crime in regulations. A recent report published
2019, the PRC topped the list of the ten by the global Center for International
worst-performing countries.15 Herein Maritime Security (CIMSEC)16 used
lies the contradiction for the CPC: a maritime intelligence predictive
the Party wants China to be a ‘great tool called Windward to visualise
maritime power’, with the seafood, the activities of China’s DWF fleet
employment, and revenue that come off Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands,
with it; but it also wants to avoid a where the sheer size of the PRC fleet
reputation for being a dodgy global prompted widespread alarm in 2020.17
operator, particularly in the waters The CIMSEC report reveals not just
of developing nations. The central the staggering scope of China’s high-
government has even taken measures seas fishing — with a fleet of up to 350
Activities of China’s DWF
fleet off the Galapagos
Islands prompted
widespread alarm
Source: Pixabay222 vessels active off the Galapagos for government continues to subsidise
223
several months from July 2020 — but companies that encourage excessive
also the diverse array of tactics used to fishing, the message to provincial and
dodge the letter of the law: ships ‘going city governments will remain mixed. If
dark’ as they enter Ecuador’s protected provinces like Fujian, Shandong, and
CONTRADICTION Signals on Sustainable Fisheries
fisheries, catch being transhipped to
CHINA STORY YEARBOOK Fishy Business: China’s Mixed
Zhejiang benefit from ships bulging
refrigerated cargo ships or ‘reefers’, with squid, albacore, and shark fin
reflagging of the ships to other nations
(which, though banned from state
Graeme Smith
such as Panama, and even changing
banquets almost ten years ago, is still
their reported draughts and registered
considered a delicacy in the south of
lengths to obscure their activities.
the PRC), it is unlikely anyone will be
Further complicating the picture is
closely checking logbooks when the
the partial militarisation of the fleet,
boats come in. As for sea cucumbers,
enabling it to act as a kind of third sea
Palau’s President, Surangel Whipps Jr.,
force after the Chinese navy and coast
has decried — to little effect — China’s
guard, particularly in disputed areas
unwillingness to answer his nation’s
such as the Senkaku Islands.
Like many environmental issues calls to end the illegal harvesting of
in the PRC, the central government sea cucumbers in Palau’s territorial
faces the dilemma of how to waters, saying they ‘don’t seem to care
balance conflicting interests. Private and that is unacceptable. They should
companies now dominate the DWF take responsibility for their people,
fleet and the state has little ability to and it is like they encouraged them by
regulate canny operators. If the central ignoring them. It’s not good.’18This text is taken from China Story Yearbook: Contradiction, edited by
Linda Jaivin and Esther Sunkyung Klein with Sharon Strange,
published 2022 by ANU Press, The Australian National University,
Canberra, Australia.
doi.org/10.22459/CSY.2022.06CYou can also read
