China Fishery Study
General Information
With the China living standard improvement and upgrade, more and more population begin with to peruse high quality living whereby the sea food especially deep sea fishes are attractive; I have seen the the higher price of sea fish, the easier to sell or even out of stock sometimes, the large cities in China have huge amount of retired people, they have stable income from the government pension and welfare, they seek healthy and comfortable life: they purchase Japan toilet lid or rice cooker etc., they travel around the world for joy and fun, taste different is their upmost favorite while adventures. Meanwhile, more and more farmers, peasants and fishermen living in the big cities with China Urbanization acceleration, it calls for tremendous living demands for these migrants.
The China Government has realized the coastal fishing become more and more difficult both the environmental concern and resources reservation, so China encourages the fishery going deep sea and abroad for wide cooperation with foreign fishery industry herewith the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China has taken the supervision and examination roles, the Government encourages the fishery industry to build pelagic fleet either individual or joint-venture with foreign fishery organizations, the effort is for supply side reform and sustainable development, this is proceed under a controlled manner: legally, safely and environment-friendly, to control the speed and scope of development, the quota practice takes effect for sustainable expansion, it is coincided with 13th Five-year Plan and China Ocean developing strategy. Under the National wind and pressure of fishing school deplete or unworthy, large numbers pelagic fishing companies adventured to abroad and deep sea for good catches, amongst private fisheries have their footprints.
There is a global challenging and headache: Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) fishing, it impairs the oceanic resources management and deteriorates sea ecological system, it has resulted in a lot of troubles for fishery management, politic friction and confliction are reported occasionally, such as Indonesia blown up and sunken fish vessels arrested.
IUU depletes fish stocks, destroys marine habitats, distorts competition, puts honest fishers at an unfair disadvantage, and weakens coastal communities, particularly in developing countries.
Based on situation observed, the fishery industry has realized the united associations importance, under IMO guidelines, FAO has outlined regional supervising mechanism, such as: International Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) Network, it is widely adopted for the IUU crack down.
With the crowded fishing fleet here and there, battling and confliction reported and abuse on the medium, most IUU is condemnable activity, it has threatened the ocean sea conservation and ecosystem, as a result, Fishery Regulatory Bodies have to unite to take actiones jointly.
With IUU control as drive force, the fishery boats survey and certification shall adopt merchant ship practices soon.
Situation of present fishery industry
In the past, IUU fishing has caused a lot of diplomatic argument, sometimes military actions reported: Indonesia president has ordered to bomb the suspect fishing boats repeatedly.
Indonesian Navy blows up 6 foreign fishing vessels on October 31, 2015 in Batam, Indonesia. Credit: Getty Images
Monday, 14 March 2016, Indonesia Blows up Illegal Toothfish Ship Sought by Interpol
China fishing vessels same have collided with local supervision while fishing activity, frankly, it could unintentionally go beyond the fishing territory, some objective factors restrict fishers to have adequate calculation and vigilance: sufficient knowledge of steamships and unfitted navigational equipment.
It is common to the industry and governing bodies, the fishing boats safety are serious from different statistics:
The fishing vessels safety has been a matter of concern to IMO since beginning, the fishing vessels and other types of ship are quite different for SOLAS and Load Lines Conventions.
The fact remains that the fishing sector, which reportedly suffers around 24,000 human losses annually, is still lacking the international mandatory safety regime.
IMO is implementing a technical co-operation programme to provide information and assistance, at the regional level, in order to promote acceptance of the two instruments, as well as the implementation of the Fishing Vessel Safety Code and Voluntary Guidelines.
The Torremolinos Protocol and the STCW-F Convention has been developed in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO), a number of non-mandatory instruments, these include the FAO/ILO/IMO Documents; of those have been revised in 2005.
Besides IMO statistics, many regional safety regulatory bodies have given their due diligence:
15 years of shipping accidents: a review for WWF Southampton Solent University
Fishery casualties 38% in the context of US commercial fleet major casualties from 1992 through 2010
Allianz insurance analyzed the total losses by the type of vessel from 2005 to 2015, the fishery is very high
Sources: Lloyd's List Intelligence casualty statistic
Taiwan merchant fishing vessels casualty 1993-2010
Taiwan Fishing vessels sunken and damaged comparison 1995-2010
Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFBs)
Regional Fisheries Bodies are instruments through which states and organizations are able to work together towards conservation, management and the development of fisheries. Since international cooperation is required for the long-term sustainability of fisheries, RFBs can play a critical role with three categories.
The first category is Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMOs) which are responsible for the management of fishery resources in a particular region of international waters or of highly migratory species.
The second group is Advisory Bodies and the third group is Scientific Bodies.
In 1948, The Food and Agriculture Organization set up the first RFB now known as the Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission.
Today, there are 44 RFBs worldwide, 20 of which are RFMOs. The IGFA has much experience participating in regional
Fisheries management. Internationally, IGFA has observer status with key.
RFMOs such as:
the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)
Western and Central Pacific Fishery Management Commission (WCPFC)
Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC)
Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC)
RFMOs are responsible for managing highly migratory species such as tunas, marlin, sailfish, sharks and swordfish,
These species don’t know borders, so international cooperation is vital to their management and conservation.
Fishery Regulatory Bodies etc. around the word
The commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was set up by international convention in 1982 with the objective of conserving Antarctic marine life. This was in response to increasing commercial interest in Antarctic krill resources, a keystone component of the Antarctic ecosystem and a history of over-exploitation of several other marine resources in the Southern Ocean.
Prospect of fishery market in China
Compared with the market deep sea fish products highly demanding, the fishing license is so difficult to get, besides the bureaucratic and low efficiency for site audit or survey, such as: MINSA and ARAP, it is concern of the conservation of local fishery resources, the fishing quota has been adopted for years, such as: Tuna share distribution at most of fishable areas not only Pacific.
I have tried a few flags administration for fishing license, the difficulty is same encountered not only ARAP and MINSA in Panama, in fact, some supportive vessels, reefer carrier and product oil tankers etc., they only present at the fish ground to support their fishing boats, they never catch fishes or takes any deep sea species, but they are required to apply the fishing license, The control and approval is undoubtedly reasonable, but intentionally raised threshold is seemingly unfair and questionable to these fishery supporting ships?
It is worthwhile for the concerned parties to seek a transparent and operable, healthy and favorable approach; it will ultimately benefit the marine ecosystem and ocean resources conservation apart politic.
Record Fish Vessels by type at WCPFC
Efforts for solutions
In order to provide the fishery managers or owners to get ready for normal commercial business, a professional lawyer firm must be sourced for correct registration and documentation whereby International Fishing License (IFL) is critical, we are able to help you both domestic and abroad including Panama.
Meanwhile we have close communications with renown Recognized Organizations for statutory certification, perhaps insurance handlers as well: financial security in respect of civil liability for bunker oil pollution damage (BCC), Financial security in respect of liability for the removal of wrecks (WRC), Financial security in respect of civil liability for oil pollution damage (CLC ) etc.
We have attended plenty of fishing vessels and refrigerated cargo vessels for Annual Safety Inspection and post detention programme, we can help you to effectively interact with the inspectors and rectify the deficiencies, so as to facilitate your ships trouble-free.
Due to profession and dedication of research, we know of all resources from the regulatory bodies to inspection practices, international regulation and local legislation, fishery associations and certification entities etc., , not only familiar but also diligent, customer focus, we believe our solutions are your choices amongst industry.