China Receives An Ultimatum on IUU Fishing After Sea Shepherd Exposes the Activities of Its Fleet

     In 2021, Sea Shepherd conducted a successful campaign to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. This so-called "IUU" fishing comprises 15 to 40 percent of all fishing activity on Earth. In their first partnership with the nation of Perú, Sea Shepherd, using its vessel Ocean Warrior, arrested six ships for IUU fishing in a matter of just a few weeks.

     An even more consequential part of this campaign was exposing the massive Chinese fleet just outside the Galápagos Marine Reserve. Sea Shepherd documented vessels with histories of labor abuses using crew that had not set foot on land or heard any news from the outside world in nearly two years, with one Chinese fisherman even asking if the COVID-19 pandemic, which had been in the United States for nearly 18 months and killed hundreds of thousands of people at that point, had made it to the United States yet. These vessels flipped off their AIS information or even displayed information from other vessels. These groundbreaking findings were released in a documentary: you can watch the trailer here, the summary video here, and the full documentary here.

     This information was also broadcast to the world when the Associated Press and Univision released "Great Wall of Lights." After the huge success of this story, they made oceans and fisheries a permanent section of their global news coverage with support from the Walton Family Foundation, which will keep millions of people informed about the threats facing our oceans. Meanwhile, at COP26, nations addressed the big problems facing sharks, fish, squid, and other species in the Eastern Tropical Pacific: they are protected in marine reserves like Cocos, Malpelo, Coiba, and the Galápagos, but are migratory species subjected to slaughter as soon as they exit park boundaries, something Sea Shepherd warned of in 2020. As a result, Galápagos was expanded by 50 percent, Cocos was more than doubled, and a new marine reserve was created in Costa Rica while Colombia and Panamá have pledged to increase their marine protected areas. As a result, 65 percent of the world's most important shark habitat, including crucial migratory routes, will be protected.

     Protection is only on paper, and that is why Sea Shepherd has partnered with or is working on partnerships with Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panamá, and Perú to bust poachers. Meanwhile, in areas beyond national jurisdiction, the United States has taken notice. Congress issued a warning to China that if it does not take immediate, drastic action to reduce IUU fishing and labor abuses in its distant-water fleets, the U.S. will institute a devastating boycott that will cost the industry tens of millions of dollars.

     Captain Paul Watson said the camera is the most powerful weapon of the world, and this campaign proves it. It made millions of people aware of IUU fishing and labor abuses in international waters, inspired nations to embark on the most aggressive expansion of MPAs in world history, led to an increase of enforcement action against poachers, and has forced the Chinese government to reform its fisheries industry. Sea Shepherd has been involved in protecting sharks in the Eastern Pacific since 1999. It has been a long, slow, often painful process, but real progress has been made, and, as this campaign shows, real results have been delivered.