Perhaps no single man in China has been as involved in shaping that country’s approach to global fishing recently than Yu Kangzhen, China’s vice minister for agriculture.
Yu has been especially busy shaping China’s fishing industry both at home and abroad, forging policy on issues as varied as trade, IUU fishing and sustainability.
In the past few weeks, Yu made waves for his statements during a meeting with Mauritania’s minister for fisheries and maritime economy, Nani Ould Chrougha, during the annual meeting of the China-Mauritania Mixed Committee on Fisheries the northwest African country’s capital of Nouakchott.
China wants to increase its fishing operations in Mauritania in return for investment in local infrastructure, Yu said. China's investment in Mauritanian infrastructure will include ports, processing facilities and technical support for aquaculture facilities, pledged Yu, who is China’s point man in negotiating fisheries deals with other governments. He also stressed that over 25 years China has invested USD 1 billion (EUR 904 million) and created 3,000 jobs locally.
Yu also made the surprising promise that China will punish rule-breaking vessels in its own fleet based off information supplied by the government of Mauritania, a key base for Chinese fishing in Africa, according to a statement posted on the China Distant Waters Fishing Network, a government-run website.
Yu’s pledge – which interestingly was left out of the English language statement put out by his ministry – suggests China wants to (or has to) enforce the laws of another state which is unable or unwilling to do so itself. The pledge also shows a newfound urgency in China to improve its fleet’s reputation for illegal fishing.
Yu’s comments came after he heard plans for Mauritania’s new sustainable development strategy for fisheries, which will entail stricter enforcement of conservation rules and result in less fish caught by Chinese vessels. As part of the strategy, Mauritania wants China to pay more for fishing licenses, and is considering becoming more self-reliant as a fishing nation.
Perhaps in response, there was much in Yu’s comments in Nouakchott about “corporate social responsibility” and “sustainability,” suggesting tension between the two sides over China’s fishing presence. China, said Yu, will “upgrade” outdated fishing vessels (both Chinese and locally owned) in Mauritanian waters, a potential bonanza for Chinese shipbuilders.
Yu’s words suggest that China has been feeling international pressure from its numerous vessels recently caught fishing illegally around the world. Back home, Yu vented his frustration in a keynote speech blasting the “blind expansion” of fishing fleets by Chinese municipalities. There has to be less focus on increasing quantity, Yu told his audience at the annual summer conference of Chinese fisheries researchers and officials. He criticized local governments for subsidizing of the construction of vast fishing fleets that are threating the sustainability of local and international fishing stocks.
“The development of China’s fisheries is not level, not coordinated and not sustainable,” he said.
To solve the problem, central government’s priority is retraining and transferring fishermen to inland work, including aquaculture and mariculture jobs. The nation’s in-shore fishermen are in a bind, said Yu.
“[They have] No water, no fish, no land on shore, no social security…life is very hard,” he said.
As a solution, Yu has promised more education and re-training – and sharper punishments for illegal fishing. And he’s promising to improve the “competitiveness” of the national fleet by modernizing ports and trawlers, as well as vessel safety and training of operatives.
These all sound like reasonable ways to fix China’s over-fishing problem. But what of Yu’s more ambitious pledge to act on intelligence from third parties like the Mauritanian government?
So far, it appears to be more talk than action. Chinese government inspections of its vessels overseas are rare, and when they do happen, evidence shows captains and companies of the inspected vessels are given ample advance warning. For example, a government agency, the Register of Fishing Vessels Inspection Bureau, posted a note to all fishing companies and vessels operators that it will be inspecting vessels in Sri Lanka and Mauritius in June and asked companies to make contact to “make preparations” for the inspections.
Hopefully there will be less prior notice for any potential transgressors singled out by the Mauritanian authorities.
