𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: On World Donkey Day, we applaud news that Emirates are implementing a ban on the carriage of donkey skins on flights. 🛑✈️
The ban serves to disrupt the global trade in donkey skins and acts as a rallying cry for the transport sector ⬇
I've been saying this for years. Intelligence has been monitoring illegal fishing and overfishing, as well as industrial spying activities on several African coasts/offshore.
These actions are often carried out by entities supported by European governments, despite these same entities blaming China for illegal fishing practices.
The Financial Times, in collaboration with the NGO Oceana, uncovered 39 industrial fishing vessels flagged to countries like Gambia, Mauritania, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau, with ownership or management ties to European companies.
Surprisingly, over half of these vessels were licensed to supply seafood to the EU. Learn more about this investigation:
https://lnkd.in/dxiV8WAF#AfricaCoastalSecurity#AfricaFishingIndustry#ProtectAfrica
China is growing its reach into local waters – taking over from the inside https://lnkd.in/d4uyimyt
African fishing waters by and large are under threat. Considering that the PRC has more populus than the African continent.
#littlesurprise
A Financial Times' investigation reveals that many EU owned boats are using local flags to fish in West African waters - sometimes in ways that are off-limits to European flagged boats.
The lack of transparency and controls around these foreign-owned vessels make it hard to track down what they are fishing or to punish illegal activities. This is concerning – foreign boats taking local flags have become a major driver of overfishing in Africa – harming the livelihoods and food security of artisanal fishing communities that compete with larger ships.
EU member states need to tighten control on their fishing vessels - wherever they are in the world - and make sure illegally-caught fish doesn't end up on our plates at the expense of local communities.
An excellent & insightful investigative article by the Financial Times on foreign (European) fishing vessel changing their national registration, intentionally or not, to operate under authorities with weaker enforcement & restrictions on foreign boats, extracting fish stocks unsustainably. The article also calls for greater transparency of beneficial owner & ultimate beneficial owner. Often on-the-water fishers are the only people held accountable for IUU fishing, while those who orchestrate, organize and profit from it escape scrutiny, sanctions and fines.
https://t.co/PifOz6ikER
Senior Director, Global Policy at Oceana | Science & Strategy, Country Assessments, Campaign Development, Global Research, International Policy | MA International Environmental Policy | RPCV
Great piece on economic pinch points to stop #IUU fishing, but harmful subsidies by the biggest fishing nations are getting in the way, keeping unprofitable ventures afloat. https://lnkd.in/eUqDGDq4
It is incumbent upon the World Trade Organization to ratify its agreement to stop subsidies to IUU fishing and now include ambitious provisions to address overcapacity at #MC13, Feb. 26-29. #alleyesonyou#abudhabi
Our investigations in the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) have found the 🇨🇳 fishing fleet is responsible for systemic illegal fishing & human rights abuses in the region.
This undercuts China’s claims of supporting sustainable development in the region. Instead of benefiting coastal communities, the rich, biodiverse marine ecosystem they rely on for their lives and livelihoods is being depleted of its resources.
Chinese-owned vessels not only engage in overfishing and illegal practices like shark-finning, but they have been spotted fishing in areas reserved for artisanal fishers.
In Mozambique, 20% of the coastal population relies on fisheries for their income and food security. Overall artisanal catch in the country is estimated to have fallen by nearly 30% over the last 25 years, leaving local small-scale fishers struggling to earn a living. This decrease has largely been driven by the excessive capacity of industrial fleets and widespread illegal fishing in Mozambican waters.
On the impact of Chinese vessels, one interviewee said, “Before they came here we would catch enough fish here by throwing our net even just 3 times. But now for you to catch enough fish you need to spend the day at sea. We feel hurt because that fish was supposed to be not just for us but for our children… They are destroying future production.”
The ocean is a lifeline for millions of people in the region, including some of its poorest – the importance of a thriving blue economy to coastal states in the SWIO is clear.
Chinese investment has transformed both the land and seascapes of all of the countries in the SWIO. While these ties have brought some benefits for the
region, they have also driven corruption and illegality.
We need more scrutiny of China’s investments and activities in the SWIO. This must involve, at a minimum, enshrining transparency measures throughout relevant fisheries regulations and frameworks we we can better understand who is fishing, how, where and for what.
Watch the film: https://lnkd.in/eus-Figf
Read the report: https://lnkd.in/eBB4-Ukv#Transparency#SWIO#IllegalFishing#ChineseDistantWaterFleet
An alternative approach to the so-called controversial 30 by 30 initiative is to strengthen and extend the tenure rights of our local coastal fishing communities.
In the Pacific, it’s time for our fisheries agencies to adopt and implement legislation that reinforces and expands the exclusive rights of our 10,000+ local coastal fishing communities over inshore areas, extending these rights further offshore to serve as buffers against industrial fishing.
This will not only secure community livelihoods and reinforce their exclusive rights but also make a significant contribution to conservation commitments, such as achieving 30 by 30.
#cbfm#coastalfisheries#coastalfishingcommunities
Our investigations in the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) have found the 🇨🇳 fishing fleet is responsible for systemic illegal fishing & human rights abuses in the region.
This undercuts China’s claims of supporting sustainable development in the region. Instead of benefiting coastal communities, the rich, biodiverse marine ecosystem they rely on for their lives and livelihoods is being depleted of its resources.
Chinese-owned vessels not only engage in overfishing and illegal practices like shark-finning, but they have been spotted fishing in areas reserved for artisanal fishers.
In Mozambique, 20% of the coastal population relies on fisheries for their income and food security. Overall artisanal catch in the country is estimated to have fallen by nearly 30% over the last 25 years, leaving local small-scale fishers struggling to earn a living. This decrease has largely been driven by the excessive capacity of industrial fleets and widespread illegal fishing in Mozambican waters.
On the impact of Chinese vessels, one interviewee said, “Before they came here we would catch enough fish here by throwing our net even just 3 times. But now for you to catch enough fish you need to spend the day at sea. We feel hurt because that fish was supposed to be not just for us but for our children… They are destroying future production.”
The ocean is a lifeline for millions of people in the region, including some of its poorest – the importance of a thriving blue economy to coastal states in the SWIO is clear.
Chinese investment has transformed both the land and seascapes of all of the countries in the SWIO. While these ties have brought some benefits for the
region, they have also driven corruption and illegality.
We need more scrutiny of China’s investments and activities in the SWIO. This must involve, at a minimum, enshrining transparency measures throughout relevant fisheries regulations and frameworks we we can better understand who is fishing, how, where and for what.
Watch the film: https://lnkd.in/eus-Figf
Read the report: https://lnkd.in/eBB4-Ukv#Transparency#SWIO#IllegalFishing#ChineseDistantWaterFleet
TIDE OF INJUSTICE: Exploitation and Illegal Fishing on Chinese Vessels in the Southwest Indian Ocean
China’s distant-water fleet (DWF) is by far the world’s largest, both in terms of the number of fishing vessels it has and the volume of fish caught, operating across the world’s major fishing grounds. Increasingly, this fleet has been associated with a range of illegal, unsustainable and abusive behaviours towards marine ecosystems and crew alike. These behaviours, when considered alongside the sheer size of its fleet, pose a serious threat to the sustainability of global fisheries and the wellbeing of fishers, and the millions of people who rely on the ocean for their livelihoods, while undermining good governance and the rule of national laws and international regulation in fisheries.
This report maps the presence and activities of the Chinese DWF in the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO), a region notable for its biodiversity-rich seascape, which is a lifeline to coastal communities across its shores. China has long-standing and intensifying economic and political ties with the region, and has highlighted the SWIO’s blue economy as a key area of investment and partnership. In light of the now better known risks associated with the presence of China’s DWF, such investments should be scrutinised so as to ensure the SWIO’s blue economy is legal, sustainable and equitable.
This report draws upon primary and secondary data sources. Primary data includes interviews with Indonesian, Filipino and Mozambican fishers who have worked on board the Chinese DWF in the SWIO. To supplement this, a wide range of secondary sources were consulted in order to develop a detailed picture of both the presence and behaviours of the fleet within the region, placed within a broader context of onshore Chinese investments and political influence.
The findings of the report show that while couched in terms of win-win, sustainable development and collective benefits from the blue economy, the realities on board many vessels in China’s DWF are in direct contradiction of these stated aims. Illegal fishing and human rights abuses were found to be commonplace on Chinese vessels in the SWIO, including routine shark finning, the deliberate capture and/or injury of vulnerable marine megafauna, and crews suffering from physical violence, abusive working and living conditions, intimidation and threats.
#illegalfishing#humanrights#environment
A great initiative Emirates SkyCargo !