The ‘push back’ by the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) Member States (Australia, India, Japan and the United States), colloquially referred to as the Quad, against China continues unabated. Under a new and unique initiative, the Quad Member States have drawn plans to undertake intensive maritime surveillance against the Chinese deep sea fishing fleet in the Indo-Pacific region.

At least five maritime information centers i.e. the U.S. Navy’s SeaVision platform, which is used by nearly every partner in the region, Indian Navy’s Indian Ocean Region Information Fusion Centre, Singapore’s Information Fusion Centre, Australia-sponsored Pacific Fusion Centre in Vanuatu, and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency’s Regional Fisheries Surveillance Center in the Solomon Islands, are being networked to keep a watchful eye on the Chinese fishing fleet in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific.

China has the world’s largest fishing fleet. Their operations are highly subsidized by the Chinese government (particularly fuel subsidy, liberal loans for acquiring such vessels, tax breaks for ship building, and repair) and are commonly sighted in nearly all the oceans. According to reports, “over 51,000 fishing vessels flagged to China fished for more than 47 million hours during the nearly threeyear period. These vessels were responsible for over 34% of the global fishing activity reflected in the Global Fishing Watch data during this period”.

Besides engaging in intensive fishing activity, the Chinese vessels have the reputation of being reckless, follow destructive fishing practices causing ecological damages and human rights abuses. The Quad initiative is also meant to help smaller island nations and protect their sea based resource wealth in respective exclusive economic zone.

According to the IFC-IOR data, in 2020, as many as 379 incidents of Illegal, Unregulated Unreported (IUU) fishing incidents were reported in the Indian Ocean region and adjoining waters. In the first half (January-June) of 2021, there were nearly 213 incidents of IUU fishing.

Over 600 Chinese fishing vessels enter the Indian Ocean annually. Their “fishing activity has a seasonal behaviour wherein the fishing vessels in withdraw from Arabian Sea prior to the onset of monsoon and return in September and October,” Perhaps what is indeed very worrying is that “four to six Chinese research vessels known to be presently operating in the IOR”.  

In this context, it is import to recall Indian Navy tweet which read “Indian Navy aircraft spotted the movement of Chinese distant-water fishing fleet, supported by People's Liberation Army Navy ships, in western Indian Ocean Region when they were moving towards Morocco.”

Besides engaging in IUU fishing, the Chinese fishing fleet is part of the military surveillance and intelligence networks. Experts argue that “many of these fishing vessels are indistinguishable from China’s ordinary fishing fleet, as they engage in a variety of peacetime missions and receive military training to conduct operations during armed hostilities.” Furthermore, these vessels can potentially be used for People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) missions in the Indian Ocean. Significantly, Chinese maritime militia vessels operate on “high seas and are usually engaged in commercial fishing, but occasionally are called on to assist the PLAN or China Coast Guard (CCG).”

It would not be surprising that China fisheries vessels could be dispatched to the Indian Ocean for intelligence-gathering and ports in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Djibouti and even Sudan could be their logistic-operating base. In particular, Gwadar fits well into the Chinese MSR strategy and PLA Navy’s operational plans; it has the potential to provide Beijing the critical ‘leverage to play the Great Game in the Indian Ocean.’ China is helping Pakistan build its Blue Economy and Chinese investors are keen to invest in Pakistan’s fishing sector by providing them with necessary technical assistance for setting up infrastructure and help them increase capacity to export seafood.

However, the Chinese fishing vessels are facing strong opposition from local fishermen who have accused them of depriving them of catch and threatening their livelihoods; “commercial fishing vessels and bottom trawling would deplete fish stocks in the exclusive federal sea zones off the provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan”.

In essence, the Chinese distant water fishing fleet are a potential source of concern for the global fisheries. Further, their unstainable fishing practices including IUU fishing are a major cause for environmental and ecological degradation. Besides, their growing numbers can overwhelm the local fishing communities. In the Indian Ocean, the Chinese fishing fleet can potentially pose numerous challenges for the Indian Navy.

Dr Vijay Sakhuja is Consultant Kalinga International Foundation, New Delhi.