Could China’s Fishing Boats Start a War on the High Seas?

Above: Fishing boats depart Shenjiawan port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province. Stringer China/REUTERS

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By Christopher Woody,Business Insider

• Chinese fishing vessels are trawling the world’s oceans to feed their country’s appetite for seafood.
• That has brought those vessels into conflict with foreign coast guards and navies.
• In South America, it’s further straining countries’ resources and fisheries, according to a report by a US military website.

China’s “insatiable appetite” for seafood is straining the limited abilities of South American countries to enforce their maritime boundaries, according to a December 13 article in Dialogo, a website run by US Southern Command.

Countries on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have been affected, and most of the illicit fishing activity in those areas is done by Chinese vessels.

Juan Carlos Sueiro, fisheries director for Peru at the ocean conservation and advocacy organization Oceana, told Dialogo that Peru and Argentina saw “the largest congregation of these vessels in the world.”

An Argentine soldier fires at a Chinese fishing boat in Argentine waters. (Argentine Coast Guard via AP)

“It’s not that they can’t fish in international waters, but their close presence generates controversy. For example, Oceana already identified vessels entering into Peruvian waters without a license or with duplicated ID,” Sueiro said.