One of China’s leading negotiators on international fishery conventions has opened up about the pressures of the role in an interview with a leading Chinese newspaper.
Speaking to Shanghai-based Xin Min Wan Bao to mark World Oceans Day, Tang Jianye, a professor at Shanghai Ocean University, said it was an “onerous” task representing China at negotiations because his team is made up of part-timers – academics like himself – faced with “professional” diplomats and scientists sent by European and North American nations.
Tang leads the "Shanghai Ocean University Long-Distance Fishing International Promise-Keeping Team” (translation from Mandarin) based at Shanghai Ocean University. The team effectively acts as China’s representative at meetings of bodies managing fisheries as well as bodies overseeing Antarctic and Arctic marine living resources. Tang and colleagues also advise Chinese government agencies on international fishery issues.
Tang’s interview with Xin Min Wan Bao highlights the struggle of China’s government agencies to keep up with the explosive growth in its international fishery fleet – a growth the government has actively encouraged. A Pew Trust fellow of 2017, Tang is based at the National Engineering Research Center for Oceanic Fisheries and College of Marine Science. He is slated to speak on China and global fisheries management at the Society for Conservation Biology's International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC) in late June.
