China Imposes New Eco-Friendly Regulations on Its Maritime Fishing Industries

China has taken a significant step towards combating illegal fishing practices by revising its distant-water fishing regulations. The new rules, which take effect between January 2020 and January 2021, aim to increase transparency and promote more sustainable practices.

The revisions include stricter certification requirements, a clamp-down on vessel monitoring, new port management procedures, and harsher penalties for captains and companies found to have broken the law. China has also introduced reporting and onboard independent observers for high-seas transshipment, the practice of transferring cargo from one ship to another at sea.

One of the key measures in the revised regulations is the requirement for hourly transponder reporting for ships, up from every four hours before January 1, 2020. This move is expected to make the flagging of distant-water vessels more transparent, suggesting that China will be cooperating with countries like Ghana to police illegal shell companies.

However, there are no specific international agreements mentioned in the provided search results that China is called upon to ratify in the future to improve the fight against illegal fishing.

The focus of the new regulations shifts from "rational" to "sustainable" use of marine resources. This change reflects China's commitment to preserving the health of the world's oceans and ensuring the long-term viability of its distant-water fishing fleet.

Unfortunately, China's distant-water fishing fleet has been widely implicated in illegal practices. In 2017 and 2018, dark fleets of Chinese squid boats were implicated in $440 million worth of flying squid illegally taken from North Korean waters. Reports of illegal shark finning, targeting endangered species such as oceanic whitetips and hammerheads, have also surfaced, most recently from the Indonesian crew of a fleet of Chinese tuna longliners fishing the Western Pacific.

Since 2003, China's distant-water fishing fleet has grown by at least 1,000 boats and doubled its reported annual catch. This growth has raised concerns about the sustainability of the fleet's practices and the impact on global fish stocks.

The new rules prohibit ships on IUU (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated) lists held by international fishery organizations from entering Chinese ports except in special circumstances. This move is aimed at discouraging illegal fishing activities and encouraging compliance with international regulations.

Despite these efforts, concerns remain about the human rights conditions on Chinese fishing vessels. In April 2020, the bodies of four crew members of the Long Xing 629 were dumped at sea, and crewmates reported human rights abuses including forced labor.

The estimated value of illegally caught fish globally is up to $23.5 billion, according to a 2018 Pew Trust report. With China's distant-water fishing fleet estimated to have at least 2,900 vessels, making it larger than that of other nations, the impact of illegal fishing practices on global fish stocks and the health of the world's oceans is significant.

As China continues to revise and enforce its distant-water fishing regulations, the hope is that it will lead to a more sustainable and transparent fishing industry, benefiting both China and the global community.