China's illegal, unregulated fishing in Indian ocean poses challenges
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
There are growing concerns over China's illegal, unregulated unreported fishing (IUU) in the Indian ocean region.As per data released by Information Fusion Centre Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), a total of 379 incidents of illegal, unregulated unreported fishing (IUU) were reported in the IOR and adjoining waters in 2020 while around 213 incidents were reported in the first half (from January to June) of 2021. Heavily subsidised by Beijing, these boats are built to be quite large with powerful engines and advanced refrigeration units. With China holding the largest share of fishing vessels in the world and coupled with depleting fishing grounds in the South & East China Seas, these vessels are venturing into other areas including Indian ocean and African coastline. Protests were reported from Pakistan, China’s closest ally, where Pakistani fisherman had gathered in thousands to protest against Chinese fishing trawlers, which were operating off Pakistan coastline.With Chinese spending close to US$ 6 billion in 2018 and the investment in this sector only increasing, its fishing capacity is growing multi-fold. The development comes even as a UN report has stated that 90% of global fishing stocks at sea are being over exploited amid rampant depletion of fishing reserves.