China's Squid Fishing Fleet Avoids Peru To Dodge Port Law

A port regulation adopted by Peru to combat illegal fishing by Chinese squid vessels appears to have backfired and driven the world's largest overseas fishing fleet deeper into the shadows, increasing the risk of forced labor, according to new research, Joshua Goodman reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: The new Peruvian regulations appear to have driven Chinese ships away from the country's ports — and kept crews made up of impoverished Filipinos and Indonesians at sea for longer periods, exposing them to abuse.

In 2020, Peru began requiring any foreign fishing boat entering its ports to use a vessel monitoring system allowing its activities to be tracked in 24 hours a day.

The equipment, which tracks a vessel’s geographic position and fishing activity through a proprietary satellite communication system, sought to provide authorities with visibility into hundreds of Chinese squid vessels that every year amass off the west coast of South America.

With the support of Global Fishing Watch, a non-profit that encourages sustainable fishing, Peru joined a handful of countries in making the information publicly available as well.

Chinese squid catchers stay on fishing grounds for more than a year, the catch fetched by fast refrigerated ships, and their food and water supplies replenished by other vessels.

Decades of overfishing have pushed China’s fishing fleet of 3,000 boats farther from home. But its expansion has been dogged by charges of illegal fishing as well as forced labor.

It’s also drawn harsh criticism from the US, which is combatting illegal fishing and recently boosted efforts to monitor the Chinese fleet off the coast of South America.

However, the new Peruvian regulations appear to have driven Chinese ships away from the country's ports — and kept crews made up of impoverished Filipinos and Indonesians at sea for longer periods, exposing them to abuse, according to the Peruvian fishing consultancy Artisonal.

Artisonal, in the report published on its website, found that only three of the 671 Chinese vessels authorized to fish in the eastern Pacific have installed the equipment.

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