Jump to content

Huge Chinese fishing subsides


Recommended Posts

Huge Chinese subsidies shock Pacific tuna industryby Jemima Garrett for Pacific BeatUpdated Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:02pm AEST Photo: Profit results for the China Overseas Fishing Company give an insight into the scale of the subsidies they attract. (ABC News) Map: Pacific Audio: Jemima Garrett speaks with Charles Hufflet (ABC News) There are claims that multi-million dollar subsidies by the Chinese Government are behind a dramatic increase in the number Chinese tuna boats fishing in the Pacific.Numbers started to increase about six years ago and now hundreds of new boats are fishing in the southern albacore tuna fishery.The chairman of the Pacific Island Tuna Industry Association, Charles Hufflet, has told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program that they are driving Pacific island companies out of business.He says recent profit results for the publicly-listed China Overseas Fishing Company show the scale of government subsidies and why Pacific Island tuna boats can't compete."They received $US5.35 million as a direct subsidy and then a further $US1.7 million as a diesel subsidy," Mr Hufflet said."Without that subsidy, they simply could not exist in the Pacific fishery at all."There are now around 1,300 Chinese boats operating in the South Pacific, all working under the same subsidy regime.Mr Hufflet says it's the first time the Association has seen individual company figures and it's shocked by the scale of them."We had anecdotal evidence of the size of the subsidies but we have never seen published figures before," he said.Mr Hufflet says that with so many new boats in the fishery, tuna is getting harder to catch."The catch per unit effort for everybody including the Chinese, Taiwanese, Fijian and so on has fallen dramatically in the southern albacore fishery, to a level where unsubsidised vessels cannot compete," he said."You've only to go to Suva Harbour and you'll see the vessels being tied up in what is the peak fishing season and included in those are some of these subsidised vessels."Mr Hufflet has called on Pacific island governments to tell China and other countries to stop subsidising their fleets so there's a level playing field and the Pacific can develop its fishery.He says the Association would rather China stop its subsidy program than give development aid to the Pacific."They complained in the report about low prices. Well, they are the cause of some of the low prices," he said."The buyers know that they are getting heavily subsidised and so this is one of the reasons for low prices in the market place."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-12/pacific-tuna/4881870
Link to post
Share on other sites

Humanity are doing a fine job of trying to replicate the Dinosaurs. :sick: I used to be full of hope for this Planet of ours but alas it was just a dream. :(

These 1300 fleet ships are typical of why the coral sea marine park won't work. These countries don't care for lines on maps, especially non policed ones like ours. Since labor took over federally they no longer use our navy to chase away foreign fishing vessels except for around the NT and north WA waters. Howard ordred the chase down of a Uruguay vessel which had Patagonian toothfish in its hull but since then it's been a free for all under labor. They are banning you and me however.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...