Chinese fishing fleets are notoriously unforgiving workplaces, where appalling sanitary conditions, poor food, and the absence of medical care cause workers to suffer illnesses and in some cases die, an investigation by The Outlaw Ocean Project (OOP), a journalistic organization dedicated to investigating conflicts over human rights, labor, and environmental difficulties in the oceans, indicated.
When these vessels dock on the coasts of South America they usually resupply and unload injured, sick, or dead crew. Montevideo is among the port cities that has seen the unloading of a dead person every two months in the last decade, reported Mexican newspaper El Sol de México.
“On these ships there are no rights, not even the most basic ones. So when they arrive at these ports, such as Montevideo, it happens that [the crew members] run away or denounce the situation on board. It’s only then that the conditions become visible,” Dr. Andrés Milessi, Uruguayan oceanographer and biologist and coordinator of the Uruguayan Blue Sea Initiative of nongovernmental organization (NGO) Che Wirapita, told Diálogo on January 8. “It’s an extremely delicate situation and that, obviously, the country that receives these ships has very few legal tools to be able to solve this situation. Because obviously the ships have a flag, almost always Chinese, so they are governed by Chinese laws. And then on the high seas they are not regulated.”
Workers on these ships can spend up to two years on board with no internet or phone signal, working 15-hour days for six days a week or more, resting in overcrowded rooms with double their capacity, El Sol de México reported.
In its November 15 report, Dark webs: Uncovering those behind forced labor in commercial fishing fleets, the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC), a global network of 150 civil society organizations, 14 governments, and global experts on illicit financial flows, confirmed that of the top 10 companies owning vessels reported for forced labor, seven are Chinese.
Although the actual size of the Chinese fishing fleet is unknown, the report estimates that it exceeds 3,000 vessels. That country’s distant water fleet alone caught 2.25 million metric tons of fish in 2022.
According to the OOP, there is also evidence of forced labor involving members of China’s Uyghur ethnic group in the companies that process the fish caught. Labor conditions are often verified in so-called “social audits,” where inspectors visiting factories check compliance with labor standards, Argentine newspaper Clarín reported on December 15.
“The Outlaw Ocean Project found that workers who catch squid destined for export may be forced to stay at sea for more than three years, exposing them to the risk of contracting diseases such as beriberi, caused by a shortage of vitamin B1 found in fresh fruit and vegetables, resulting in several deaths,” Andrew Wallis, executive director of the anti-slavery NGO Unseen, told Euronews. “The fault lies with the Chinese state, unscrupulous companies, and business practices, which demand too much profit from their supply chains.”
One of the challenges raised by the FTC investigation is the ownership of vessels, as they are often flagged in one country and registered to a legal owner in another, while fishing in a third country or on the high seas. In the case of reefer vessels, they transfer fish on the high seas from one vessel to another, to avoid taking it to ports where they may be asked for legal information and the actual destination.
“A concrete action is that there should be an international observer inside the ships, who not only verifies how they make the catches, but also has the necessary basic tools to confirm how the workers are treated on board,” Milessi said. “This should be imposed at the international level, where every fishing vessel that is operating has an observer to document everything.”
Maritime safety
The shady operations of Chinese fleets are a constant threat to the security of South American countries, which since the second week of December 2023 have stepped up surveillance of territorial seas to prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The Argentine Ministry of Defense, under the operational control of the Joint Maritime Command, informed that an Argentine Navy Beechcraft B200 aircraft is carrying out surveillance flights of maritime spaces, together with patrol boat ARA Piedrabuena, in the area adjacent to its Exclusive Economic Zone.
The operation responds to the imminent arrival of more than 400 foreign fishing boats, mostly Chinese, whose workers receive a salary of $150 per month at most, when paid, to perform their tasks in precarious conditions, Argentine digital media DEPROA reported.
The Chilean Navy also maintains special surveillance of its territorial sea. Since December, it has been deploying various operations in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans to verify and control the transit of the Chinese fishing fleet.
Two areas of special attention are the Juan Fernandez Islands and Easter Island, where the Chilean Navy has identified vessels under Chinese and Russian flags, among others, Naval News reported on December 20. These vessels, Naval News added, are significantly larger, have greater capacity, and use predatory fishing techniques, different from those used by local fishermen.