The Impact of China's Deep Water Fishing Fleet on Africa

The London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) published in June 2020 a major report titled "China's Distant-water Fishing Fleet: Scale, Impact and Governance" by Miren Gutierrez, Alfonso Daniels, Guy Jobbins, Guillermo Gutierrez Almazor, and Cesar Montenegro. 

China's deep-water fishing (DWF) fleet is the largest in the world, and contributes to significant negative effects on the environment and socio-economy of developing countries, including Africa.  In fact, China's DWF fleet is five to eight times larger than suggested by previous estimates.  ODI identified 16,966 Chinese DWF vessels. 

ODI also found almost 1,000 Chinese DWF vessels registered in other countries, more than half of them in Africa where enforcement measures are generally limited, and where fishing rights are often restricted to domestically registered vessels.  Ghana and Mauritania accounted for almost 30 percent of these registrations globally.  Cote d'Ivoire, Morocco, and Senegal also had significant numbers.  The problem is that China's DWF fleet is contributing to the depletion of fish stocks in waters off Africa and, together with DWF fleets from other countries, engaging in illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activities.