Delhi Calls to Combat 'Illegal Fishing' in Indian Ocean Amid Concerns Over China's Actions

Beijing says it has been "clamping down" on illegal fishing by Chinese fishing vessels around the world. Chinese Foreign Affairs spokesman Hua Chunying said last year that Beijing had adopted a "zero-tolerance" policy towards "law-breaking" activities of the distant water fishing (DWF) fleet.

India has issued an "urgent call" to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the Asia-Pacific region, while taking part in a virtual event New Delhi co-hosted with Singapore on Tuesday.

The virtual workshop was organised under the aegis of the East Asia Summit (EAS), a regional forum comprising 18 nations, including Russia and the US.

An Indian official told Sputnik that this was the first time New Delhi has hosted such an event.

A press release by India's Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying on Wednesday said that the online event was attended by delegates from Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, China, South Korea, and Indonesia.

Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary of India's Department of Fisheries (DoF), said in his keynote speech that "unregulated fishing was posing a serious threat to coastal communities and their livelihood".

The Indian official also said that New Delhi was making "efforts" to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing by working with "coastal fishing communities", according to the release.

Lim Kok Thai, chief executive of the Singapore Food Agency, said at the workshop that illegal and unregulated fishing "has negatively affected the livelihood and food security of the coastal fishing communities".

The event was also attended by officials from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), who revealed "ground-breaking and continuous efforts being taken to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing", the press release disclosed.

About 380 illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing incidents were recorded across the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) by New Delhi in 2020, according to a report published by the Indian Navy's Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in February 2022.

The report recorded about 40 illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing incidents in the region in February 2022 alone and 37 in January of this year, the report states.

Monitoring illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing incidents in the region is one of the responsibilities of the IFC-IOR, which is located in the northern city of Gurugram (in the state of Haryana). Described as the Indian Navy's "eye" in the region, the IFC-IOR hosts International Liaison Officers (ILOs) from several countries, including Australia, the US, Singapore, Japan, and France among others.

Concerns Over China's Growing Distant Water Fishing Fleet (DWF)

The remarks on illegal fishing by the online conference delegates come as concerns are on the rise among those countries which have a shoreline on the Indian Ocean over the expanding footprint of Chinese fishing vessels.

Last July, the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) detained five Chinese trawlers near the Arabia Sea port of Gwadar for reportedly fishing "illegally" in Pakistani waters. The presence of Chinese trawlers in the region had sparked protests by local fishermen.

In the Philippines, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr hurled abuse at Beijing last May after Manila lodged repeated protests against China over the presence of Chinese fishing vessels.

China was ranked as the "worst-performing country" on the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing Index in 2021, according to a report released in December.

Another report by the London-based think tank Overseas Development Institute in 2020 estimated that China's DWF comprises around 17,000 vessels, with almost 1,000 of them registered in other countries. At least 183 of these vessels were identified by the British think tank of being involved in illegal fishing activities.

The size of China's fishing fleet is much bigger than that of the US or the EU.