The Chinese fishing fleet is a great power at sea. Fishing far out to sea where no country’s laws can reach, they fish more than any other nation right now. And they do so at a terrible human cost.
Journalist Ian Urbina and his team of researchers worked for four years to document and gather evidence of how people on board the large Chinese fishing vessels are deprived of all human rights. They found evidence of forced labour, human trafficking, unpaid wages and deaths due to malnutrition on board. All the while, the giant ships are emptying the sea of fish.
The project has been called ‘The Outlaw Ocean Project’, and on 9 October 2023, articles and videos began to be published in newspapers and magazines around the world. A very strong material that we have now been able to take part in.
Did the China Investigation Have Impact? The short answer is, in large measure, yes. But in some ways, no.
The size and behavior of the Chinese fishing fleet raises concerns. Seafood is the world’s last major source of wild protein and the largest globally traded food commodity by value. Western political analysts say that having just one country controlling this precious resource creates a precarious power imbalance.
China has the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet, catching billions of pounds of seafood annually, the biggest portion of it squid.
The dark chronicle of a squid jigger and a man trafficked onto it.
An exploration of the motivations and methods behind China’s growth and control over fishing across most of the high seas.
Daniel: The tragic tale of an Indonesian deckhand and his brutal voyage on a Chinese squid ship.
The Chinese fishing fleet is a great power on the sea. It fishes far out to sea where no country's laws reach, and it fishes more than any other nation right now. And it does so at a terrible human cost.
China uses thousands of workers from the Hermit Kingdom, in violation of U.N. sanctions and U.S. law. Many at the plants recounted rampant sexual abuse.
China forces minorities from Xinjiang to work in industries around the country. As it turns out, this includes processing much of the seafood sent to America and Europe.
An exploration of the motivations and methods behind China's growth and control overfishing across most of the high seas.
