6) How far will China go in its new official vigor for international fishery enforcement?
As remote monitoring of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing appears to be getting more achievable – note the Global Fishing Watch’s progress in this respect – it’s worth watching how China responds to the scrutiny.
In order to “guarantee the orderly development of the Chinese distant-water tuna fleet,” the Ministry of Agriculture has published “Advice on Progressing Strict Adherence to Global Tuna Agreements.” The circular from the Chinese government to fishing firms operating in international waters for tuna has warned firms not registered with authorities (as required of all distant-water fishing firms) to immediately cease operations or face fines.
It’s interesting to see graphs and screen grabs from the Global Fishing Watch turning up on Chinese government websites. Does this mean China is merely seeing the inflection point in global fisheries monitoring brought about by new methods of collecting and analysing data?
