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The whole focus on Chinese fishing in foreign EEZs is a red herring (excuse the pun) compared to the real goal behind subsidizing a large deep water fishing fle
by magicsmoke 6y ago
The whole focus on Chinese fishing in foreign EEZs is a red herring (excuse the pun) compared to the real goal behind subsidizing a large deep water fishing fleet.
http://cimsec.org/evolution-of-the-fleet-a-closer-look-at-the-chinese-fishing-vessels-off-the-galapagos/46116 http://cimsec.org/evolution-of-the-fleet-a-closer-look-at-th...
Most Chinese fishing takes place right outside the EEZ in the high seas, and after the 2017 fiasco with a Chinese ship caught in the Galapagos EEZ they've been very careful not to actually enter its 200nm limit. The linked article has some great maps of AIS data that clearly show this. There may still be scattered instances of ships with AIS transponders turned off being sent into the EEZ or transfers from non-Chinese flagged vessels to Chinese ships, but according to the article "In most cases, what is detectable may not be illegal, and care is clearly being taken by the Chinese fleet to give the appearance of legal compliance with national and international laws."
The real bombshell is this here: "A task force report published in 2010 by Chinese government, industry, and academics argued that countries that have a longer history of using the ocean have more power in determining how resources are distributed and thus receive a larger share of those resources: occupying brings about rights and interests"
China is subsidizing a large deep water fleet so they become the largest fishers on the high seas outside of the 200nm EEZs and so can write the future rules for high seas fishing. As stated in the article, of the regional fishery management organizations that operate in the area very few Chinese ships are registered with the IATTC (founded 1949) despite China being a member. Rather, the ships are all registered with the SPRFMO (founded 2012). It's a lot easier to write organization rules when you're a founding member than when you join decades later. In international politics possession (in this case precedence) is 9/10ths of the law and you can be sure in any future negotiations over fishing quotas in the currently loosely regulated high seas China will have the largest voice because they have the largest fleet and largest historical catch.
While everyone's still back in the 80s guarding their 200nm UNCLOS EEZs China's already got the first mover advantage on everything outside those EEZs.
- kylebenzle 6y agoHow there are any fish reserves left at all is beyond belief. The fact that the Earth hasn't imploded yet is weird.
- gameswithgo 6y agoit is a close thing right now, on many fronts.
- magicsmoke 6y agoIf countries want to preserve their fishing stocks for local fishermen they'll have to set fishing quotas or no fish zones within their EEZs like the article suggests. But fish have no conception of EEZ boundaries and the moment they wander outside they're free game for Chinese DWF fleets. From China's view, if foreign countries want big EEZs, they can shoulder the cost of maintaining the fishing grounds inside. Looks like the real solution is to genetically modify fish so they always stay within 200 nm of land.
- jacobush 6y agohttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27129727 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27129727 "Czech deer still avoid Iron Curtain"
- 3131s 6y agoGive it 10 or 20 years, we're rapidly killing off many species. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
- londons_explore 6y agoHumans alive today don't have much worse lives because of our killing of the Mammoth, the dodo, or the giant sloth. Humans alive in 2000 years also won't have much worse lives. It'll be a sidenote in biology class "Did you know, there used to be many different types of animal roaming freely, but now there are just two types left, cats and dogs.".
- Reimersholme 6y ago...and the nr. 1 hit movie Meghalayan Park is about a theme park recreating lions and wolves, that then escape and eat the park visitors.
- ponker 6y agoSadly, the guy who wanted to “get tough on China” was an idiot, which may set back that policy agenda by 20 years. Wish we had an actual tough guy President like Putin to wage the inevitable total war against China.
- data_ders 6y agoas someone who aspires to be deeply knowledgeable in many random areas -- you mind me asking how you came to know so much about this Chinese deep water fleet?
- blaser-waffle 6y agogreater than 0 chance they're part of the r/sino crowd and is a paid propagandist