China has proposed a massive overhaul to its nationwide fisheries law, which, if passed, would align the nation’s fishing industry more with the goals outlined in the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA).
The PSMA aims to deter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices across the globe; China ratified the agreement in April.
According to Liu Xinzhong, head of the fisheries bureau at the Chinese agriculture ministry, revising the law was a necessary step to take if it wanted to align with the PSMA. He explained that the new law will result in improved port management and interdepartmental cooperation while also modernizing China’s fisheries industry, adding that China’s formal accession to the PSMA was important to the country’s “continuous fight” against IUU fishing.
The revisions would alter nearly every existing article to the country’s fisheries law to varying degrees. More specifically, they call for the digitization of the country’s fishing ports, the introduction of fishery insurance policies, and a list of the types of fishing gear that are permitted for use.
As a result, environmentalists and industry experts have largely welcomed the news as a way to reduce the scale of China’s fleet and increase transparency, but have questioned some of the language in the proposals, the feasibility of the proposals, and whether they go far enough in the fight against IUU fishing.
“For the first time, this draft clearly prohibits ‘three-no’ vessels from engaging in fishing operations, prohibits the provision of services for the circulation of their catches in the superior law, and sets corresponding penalties,” said Ling Cao, a Chinese fisheries researcher and professor at Xiamen University, referring to vessels operating without registration, monitoring devices, or designated landing port authorization.
The China offices of nonprofit Greenpeace agreed that the proposals generated positive momentum, but wanted some stronger language. In particular, the nonprofit regrets the wording on vessel access to ports, which “encourages” vessels to unload their catch at designated fishing ports where catches can be registered instead of making it a requirement.
Dyhia Belhabib, a program manager at Ecotrust Canada and an expert in illegal fishing and fisheries governance, similarly praised the provisions, but wants to see the revised law allow for stronger sanctions against IUU vessels and mandatory public registration for China’s distant water-fishing fleets.
“[There should be] clear ownership visibility, which will allow ease of sanctioning from a coastal state perspective and contribute to deterrence,” she told SeafoodSource.
Belhabib said she would also like China’s revised fisheries law to enforce stronger labor standards – both onboard ships and in factories and plants.
“This is going to be difficult because forced labor is embedded in the culture of distant-water fishing, and Uyghur trafficking is embedded in national policies,” she said. “Supply chain traceability is a unicorn … but China has the capacity to do it.”
Overall, Daniel Pauly, an oceans and fisheries professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada, said that the revisions and China joining the PSMA are proof that it’s amenable to cooperation, so long as reforms are made by other major fishing nations first.
“China wants to realize its interests but to be considered to be playing by the rules,” he said. “The only way to rein [the Chinese fleet] in is for major fishing powers like Europe to raise its own standards. Then, you [establish a] baseline from which you can accuse others. It is not surprising that [China] signed the PSMA, because this is how China wants to increase its fishing activity – by being a benevolent party.”
