China's Role in the Exploitation of Global Fisheries: Issues for Congress [April 12, 2022]   [open pdf - 2MB]

From the Introduction: "Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and the growing number of overfished global fish stocks have raised environmental and national security issues for Congress and successive U.S. Administrations. In 2019, a nongovernmental organization-led initiative (the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime) developed an IUU Fishing Index that identified China as the overall worst-scoring coastal country (out of 152 total countries) with regard to IUU fishing practices. By a wide measure, China is the largest single contributor to these concerns because of the scale, range, and behavior of its fishing fleets. [...] Declining domestic fish stocks and an expanding fishing fleet encouraged by national policies are two factors that may be driving IUU fishing by Chinese actors. A significant portion of China's domestic fish stocks have been depleted by overfishing and degradation of coastal habitat. [...] After a brief overview of the state of the current global fisheries and international and regional fisheries management, this report will examine China's fishing practices, including IUU activities and distant-water fishing in select regions. There is also a discussion of potential issues for Congress, including U.S. responses to IUU fishing."