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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for overfishing
5 results foundAuthor: Hongzhou, Zhang Title: China’s Evolving Fishing Industry: Implications for Regional and Global Maritime Security Summary: Having the world’s largest fishing fleet while facing depleting fishery resources in its inshore waters, China’s marine catch sector has been experiencing two major structural adjustments: a shift from inshore to offshore fishing and expanding Distant Water Fishing (DWF). The shift from inshore to offshore fishing is leading to growing illegal fishing operations by Chinese fishermen in neighboring countries’ EEZs and disputed waters, particularly in the East China Sea and South China Sea. These operations become triggers for maritime tensions and clashes in the region. Meanwhile, the rapid expansion of China’s distant water fishing fleet also has notable implications for global maritime security. China’s growing distant water fishing fleet is also one of the factors leading to China’s efforts to build a blue water navy to safeguard China’s maritime interests. However, it might also contribute to overfishing and illegal fishing which threatens the sustainability of the global fishing sector. The root causes of fishing disputes between China and other countries are China’s worsening supply and demand imbalances for aquatic products, and overcapacity of its marine catch sector. Thus, in order to manage fisheries disputes and prevent fishing disputes from escalating into regional and global diplomatic and security conflicts, efforts at national, regional and global levels are needed. At the national level, China needs to step up efforts to address the demand and supply imbalances and at the regional and global level, cooperation and coordination among countries are essential to prevent fishing disputes from escalating. If the structural shifts of China’s fishing industry could be well managed, the fishing sector could be an ideal field for cooperation to achieve maritime safety and security at both regional and global levels. Details: Singapore: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 2012. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: RSIS Working Paper, 246: Accessed August 23, 2012 at: http://www.rsis.edu.sg/publications/WorkingPapers/WP246.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Singapore URL: http://www.rsis.edu.sg/publications/WorkingPapers/WP246.pdf Shelf Number: 126109 Keywords: Illegal FishingMaritime CrimeOffenses Against the Environment (Singapore)Overfishing |
Author: Environmental Justice Foundation Title: Squandering the Seas: How Shrimp Trawling is Threatening Ecological Integrity and Food Security Around the World Summary: Shrimp trawlers, particularly those in the tropics, can catch over 400 marine species in their nets. These non-target species or ‘bycatch’ are often discarded by shrimp fishermen – either they are inedible or are simply not worth retaining when shrimp is worth up to 30 times more per kilogram. Shrimp fisheries typically produce bycatch-to-shrimp ratios of 5:1 in temperate areas and 10:1 in the tropics. However, higher ratios have been found, such as 21:1 in the case of the Australian Northern Prawn Fishery. This essentially means 21 kg of marine organisms are caught in order to obtain 1 kg of shrimp. Currently, tens of millions of tonnes of bycatch are taken by shrimp trawl fisheries worldwide each year. Most shrimp trawlers discard this non-target catch. Shrimp fisheries alone are responsible for one third of the world’s discarded catch, despite producing less than 2% of global seafood. Shrimp often ends up on the tables of wealthy consumers in the developed world. It is a luxury item. For poor fishing communities, fish is a necessity. Globally, 450 million people rely on fisheries as a source of food and income. In Bangladesh, the fisheries sector provides 78% of animal protein intake for the average person. Equally high dependencies are found in other developing nations, yet it is countries such as these that face food security issues linked to overfishing. People in the developing world witness shrimp trawlers – sometimes foreign- owned – destroy their traditional fishing grounds and incidentally catch and squander local fish stocks. In some cases this fishing is illegal, in other cases it is the result of fisheries agreements, such as those between the EU and African nations. Yet those who suffer the environmental costs of shrimp trawling are unlikely to see the financial rewards of these agreements. Shrimp trawling frequently takes place in shallow coastal waters, which act as nursery grounds for many commercial fish species. Trawling removes vast numbers of juvenile fish that are needed to sustain fish stocks. In addition, by dragging large, heavy nets along the seabed, habitats that support marine life are damaged. One study found that the pass of a single trawl could remove up to 25% of seabed life. In heavily-trawled areas, habitats have little chance to recover and in some cases may be permanently altered. Shrimp trawling is thought to disrupt entire marine communities, altering biomass, size structure and diversity. Populations of vulnerable species are rapidly reduced. These species tend to be slow-growing and long-lived with low reproductive output and/or those dependent on structurally diverse seabed habitats. Some of these, such as turtles, are already endangered as a result of other human activities. Shrimp trawling presents one of the greatest threats to their continued survival. Indeed, it is estimated that 150,000 sea turtles are killed annually by shrimp trawlers. A creature that has lived on Earth for millions of years could be wiped out by consumer demand for a high value seafood. Damage caused by shrimp trawling is so significant that leading scientists have compared it to clear-cutting forests. However, unlike deforestation, the impacts of shrimp fisheries are only just beginning to receive international attention. Details: London: Environmental Justice Foundations, 2003. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 26, 2013 at: http://ejfoundation.org/sites/default/files/public/squandering_the_seas.pdf Year: 2003 Country: International URL: http://ejfoundation.org/sites/default/files/public/squandering_the_seas.pdf Shelf Number: 127724 Keywords: Offences Against the EnvironmentOverfishingShrimp IndustryShrimp Trawling |
Author: Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) Title: Thailand's Seafood Slaves: Human Trafficking, Slavery and Murder in Kantang's Fishing Industry Summary: -- Human trafficking and slavery are global problems. It is estimated that as many as 35.8 million men, women and children are currently victims of human trafficking around the world. -- Thailand is the 30th largest economy in the world with a GDP of US$404 billion. -- The Thai seafood industry employs more than 800,000 people, while seafood exports are valued at $6 billion. -- A growing number of independent reports over the past decade have documented abuses of workers trafficked on to Thai fishing vessels, including bonded, forced and slave labour and the use of extreme violence. One report by the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) found that 59% of trafficked migrants interviewed aboard Thai fishing vessels reported witnessing the murder of a fellow worker. -- Thailand's fish stocks and marine biodiversity are in crisis. The Thai fishing industry has undergone decades of over- fishing and astonishingly poor fisheries management. Rapid industrialisation during the 20 th Century has resulted in too many vessels using destructive and unsustainable fishing methods to catch too many fish. The overall catch per unit effort (CPUE) in both the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea has plummeted by more than 86% since 1966, making Thai waters among the most over-fished regions on the planet. -- The pressure on Thailand's over-exploited fish stocks has been and continues to be due in large part to the demand for animal feeds and farmed shrimp. The fishmeal industry has masked the true economic and ecological costs of over- fishing by over-valuing the trash fish which constitutes one of its key raw materials. -- The lack of an adequate fisheries management regime and effective enforcement along with extensive corruption have facilitated overfishing in Thailand, which has generated economic pressures that fuel the ongoing, widespread use of slave labour. -- Exhausted fish stocks mean that vessels are staying at sea longer and going further afield, often fishing illegally in other nations’ territorial waters, to bring in diminishing catches. In turn operators are using human trafficking networks and bonded, forced and slave labour to crew their vessels and depress costs. This largely export-focused industry is able to carry on providing cheap products to western markets as a direct result of these human rights abuses. Consumers in the west are eating product contaminated with slavery, 'pirate' fishing, corruption and criminality. Details: London: EJF, 2015. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 9, 2016 at: http://ejfoundation.org/sites/default/files/public/EJF-Thailand-Seafood-Slaves-low-res.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Thailand URL: http://ejfoundation.org/sites/default/files/public/EJF-Thailand-Seafood-Slaves-low-res.pdf Shelf Number: 145618 Keywords: Fishing IndustryForced laborHomicidesHuman TraffickingIllegal FishingOverfishingWildlife Crime |
Author: De Greef, Kimon Title: The booming illegal abalone fishery in Hangberg: Tough lessons for small-scale fisheries governance in South Africa Summary: Marine capture fisheries around the world are widely perceived to be in a state of crisis, with growing recognition that conventional resource-centred management strategies are insufficient to counter ongoing problems of over-exploitation. This is considered particularly true in the small‐scale sector, which employs the overwhelming majority of the world's fishers but has historically been overlooked. To manage marine resources more sustainably, new approaches to fisheries governance have been sought that recognise the complex nature of fisheries systems, paying attention to the social dimensions of fisheries management in addition to important ecological processes. In South Africa, many of these new approaches have been embraced in a recently adopted policy for the small-scale sector. Attempts to reform marine fisheries have been ongoing in the country since the end of apartheid (a system of legalised racial segregation and white supremacy that ruled for almost 50 years) but have largely failed to bring meaningful change to impoverished fishing communities. Frustration at ineffective reform has contributed to widespread non-compliance - most notably in the abalone fishery, which has collapsed in the face of rampant poaching, driven by a lucrative, illegal export market to the Far East. Although the new small-scale fisheries (SSF) policy has been hailed as a progressive shift in thinking, questions remain about how it is to be implemented. One major challenge will be dealing with illegal fishing. The purpose of this study, was to profile the human dimensions of abalone poaching in the Cape Town fishing community of Hangberg and to draw lessons for implementing the new SSF policy. A qualitative multi-method research approach, based mainly on unstructured interviews and participant observation, was used to access the clandestine fishery and investigate its historical development, current structure, scale and methods of operation and main socio-economic drivers and impacts. It was found that abalone poaching has become deeply embedded in Hangberg, having evolved into a highly organized boat-based fishery in a period of less than 15 years. At least five local poaching groups - representing some 250 individuals in total - currently used dedicated high-powered vessels to access reefs around the Cape Peninsula. Profits earned from poaching are substantial but vary, with poachers operating according to a loose hierarchy and performing a range of different tasks in the fishery. This variation notwithstanding, the illegal fishery appears to have become a mainstay of the impoverished local economy, funding poachers' expensive lifestyles, in addition to contributing more meaningfully to the livelihoods of an estimated 1000 residents. Details: Cape Town: University of Cape Town, 2013. 117p Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 6, 2017 at: https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/9187 Year: 2013 Country: South Africa URL: https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/9187 Shelf Number: 145344 Keywords: AbaloneAnimal PoachingEndangered SpeciesIllegal Fishing Illegal TradeOrganized CrimeOverfishingWildlife Crimes (South Africa) |
Author: Greenpeace Title: Africa's Fisheries' Paradise at a Crossroads: Investigating Chinese Companies' Illegal Fishing Practices in West Africa Summary: Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing practices, systematic fishing vessel tonnage fraud and the exportation of a destructive fisheries model. Meanwhile, West African fisheries resources are increasingly being overfished. While these Chinese DWF companies' activities contribute little to China's overall overseas investments, they undermine the mutually-beneficial partnership which the Chinese government is seeking with African countries. The Chinese government must urgently reform its DWF regulatory framework and management system to close the loopholes that have allowed Chinese companies to overfish and flout rules with quasi impunity for decades. West African governments must urgently strengthen governance and adopt and implement policies to ensure that the exploitation of their marine resources is environmentally sustainable and socially equitable. All States concerned should also adopt and implement effective national and regional plans of action to combat and deter IUU fishing in the region Details: Beijing: Greenpeace East Asia, 2015. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed march 9, 2018 at: http://www.greenpeace.org/africa/Global/africa/graphics/Scam%20on%20the%20African%20Coast/AFRICA%E2%80%99S%20FISHERIES%E2%80%99%20PARADISE%20AT%20A%20CROSSROADS_FULL%20REPORT.pdF Year: 2015 Country: Africa URL: http://www.greenpeace.org/africa/Global/africa/graphics/Scam%20on%20the%20African%20Coast/AFRICA%E2%80%99S%20FISHERIES%E2%80%99%20PARADISE%20AT%20A%20CROSSROADS_FULL%20REPORT.pdF Shelf Number: 149417 Keywords: Fishing Industry Illegal Fishing Maritime Crime Offenses Against the Environment OverfishingUnregulated Fishing Wildlife Crimes |