The world has seen multiple nightmares during its course of history. Ranging from traditional to non-traditional domains, these nightmares have resulted in different consequences. Thus, these are the nightmares that have involved states in controversies and due to such controversies different labels have been attached to countries. One such nightmare impacting the world today heavily is the conduct of illegal activities from individual to state level. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can witness these activities without any boundaries. This fact cannot be negated: almost each and every country conducts some kind of illegal activity, like illegal smuggling of humans, organs, weapons, drugs, animals, and others.
China is no exception to this trend. It has a long history of illegal activities. The country is featured in the top ten nations of the world and is involved in all types of illegal activities to support its growing economy. The tragedy is just that no one is there to hold China accountable for its doings. As a result, the country considers itself the sole king of the game and sets and breaks the rules according to its own goals and desires. First of all, China is already famous for its dumping activities, especially in developing countries. To become the world’s economic hegemon, China has started dumping its products mainly in developing countries’ markets. This has created a negative effect on locals both in social and economic terms.
After becoming the economic giant by selling its products at cheap rates in foreign markets, China aims to fulfill its next big dream, i.e., controlling maritime. They are gradually extending their roots in every marine belt, especially Africa and the Indian Ocean. It has acted in an unregulated manner in the Indian Ocean. How will they get control of this marine belt? The answer lies in one such illegal method and that is illegal trawling of fish. The fish industry serves as a staple food for over 3 billion people worldwide. It is one of the cheapest sources of food and can be afforded by the majority of the people. Moreover, by relying on seafood, these people get nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, iron, and vitamin B-12, which are important for their health. This caught seafood is a source of staple food for many people.
In contemporary times, even this industry is under the radar of Chinese expanding maritime activities. But the practices the nation is adopting raises a big question mark. Are these activities legal? Are there any consequences of these brutal acts on the environment? Will these acts have a negative consequence on the livelihood of locals? China occupies the top position in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Out of 10 companies involved in illegal fishing, eight are from China.
One such illegal activity practiced by China is the trawling of different species of fish. What is trawling? Trawling is basically the act of capturing fish at an industrial level. To fulfill this purpose, a heavy-weight fishing net called a trawl is inserted in the sea to pull out the desired fish. The insertion of trawl can vary depending on the type of fish under capture. If the trawl is towed through a water column, then it is called midwater trawling, while if it is along the seafloor, then it is called bottom trawling. The main species trawled by the bottom trawling method include prawns, silver warehousing, and others. Under midwater trawling species like redbait, Australian sardine, and others are trawled.
The trawling mostly adopted by Chinese is the bottom one. Under this type, the fishing net is usually tied with one or more boats to keep the trawl on the seafloor. Through this mechanism, different species of fish can be caught and one can easily catch the targeted fish. Afterwards, the caught fish is sold at a commercial level. The epicenter of this illegal activity by China is Africa. Fishermen residing there are facing livelihood challenges. Locals have to wait more hours to catch the fish, which is of both low quality and quantity. They do not get the desired price of the caught fish. In addition to this, Chinese have also destroyed the local fishermen’s nets so that they cannot catch the fish and thus all the fish are under the command of Chinese.
The phenomenon is also observed along the marine belt of Pakistan. Through the project of CPEC, Chinese have entered the country. Now they are involved in the illegal capture of various species of fish from the Arabian Sea. Local fishermen caught these Chinese fishermen from the exclusive economic zones of Sindh and Baluchistan provinces. As it is a well-known fact, about 2.5 million people on the Sindh and Baluchistan coastline depend on fishing as their single source of livelihood. Thus, by illegal trawling, their livelihood and existence are threatened. To overcome this threat, locals from Baluchistan launched mass protests from time to time since 2020. But Chinese activities have not witnessed any full stop.
Gwadar, Pasni, Ormara, and Jiwani are contributors to 80% of commercial fishing. This also creates job opportunities for the locals. About 400,000 people are employed through this medium in Baluchistan. It also maintains the ecosystems as different varieties of fish species are present. This fish is exported to various countries, including the Middle East, Sri Lanka, China, South Korea, and others. But now this means of economy generator is also exposed to Chinese ambitions. Through the insertion of trawls (fishing nets) in the deep sea, damages to sponges, corals, and seagrass are also witnessed. Moreover, ecosystem imbalance is also observed as the food chain is disturbed. This bottom-trawling also contributes to another nightmare, which is climate change. This method uses extra fuel to catch fish species from the seafloor. This ultimately releases carbon into the atmosphere. This causes global warming and climate change, ultimately affecting the species of fish underwater.
Despite collaborating and making joint agreements between Pakistan and China, the Chinese have not stopped their actions of illegal trawling. Pakistan lacks proper infrastructure to monitor these activities and secure their sector. They also do not have enough funds to support the securitization of their marine belt. Although through this method, the needs of the global population are fulfilled, and every year around a quarter of seafood is caught by this method. But the aftereffects of this method are horrible. Fishermen of Baluchistan and Sindh province could not earn enough money to meet their ends. They fail to provide shelter, food, education, medicines, and other necessities of life to their families.
To overcome this calamity, collaboration of the central government with provincial governments is required to fight together. Proper funds should be allocated to build such infrastructure that can monitor and hinder the illegal trawling by Chinese fishermen. Since 2023, 11 illegal fishermen have been caught. But through improved mechanisms, more such fishermen can be caught, which can stop the ill practices of Chinese ambitions. Strict law and order should be present for the Chinese workers working on CPEC in the Baluchistan region, especially. A special check should be done on the Chinese fishermen community in Baluchistan and Sindh coastal regions. Patrolling vessels should be introduced and should be in working stage 24/7. Only then can this sector be saved from illegal activity and can help Pakistan generate an economy from this sector as well.
The author is Yusra Sarwar. She is currently enrolled in the M.Phil. program in International Relations at National Defence University. Her areas of interest include the foreign policy of great powers, especially China, maritime security, sports, and climate change. The regions she is interested in looking into are the South Asian region and the Indo-Pacific region.
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