Report Exposes China for Reneging on Fishing Agreements in the Seas of East Africa
A row of oil tankers docked at a harbor in Africa, highlighting maritime trade and regional economic activities.
The Chinese fishing fleet is responsible for systemic illegal fishing and human rights abuses in countries bordering the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO), undercutting China’s claims of supporting sustainable development and thriving blue economies in the region, according to a new report published by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). China’s distant-water fishing fleet is the world’s largest and most controversial. It has long been accused of environmental and human-rights abuses in Latin America and West Africa. An investigation by the EJF suggests it is terrorising fishermen and plundering the seas off East Africa, too. Of the 44 fishers interviewed, 80% reported shark finning, 100% reported abusive working and living conditions, 96% excessive overtime and 55% physical violence. EJF also interviewed 16 fishers who worked on Chinese trawlers in Mozambique who similarly reported widespread illegalities, with 81% reporting physical abuse and half reporting the deliberate capture and/or injury of vulnerable marine megafauna. The EJF has identified some 138 Chinese vessels fishing in waters off Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar.