China Dialogue Ocean

China Dialogue Ocean (https://chinadialogueocean.net) is dedicated to illuminating, analyzing and helping to resolve our ocean crisis.

Latin America's "Southern Cone" Takes Lead in Marine Conservation

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-04-05 18:58:22

[By Fermín Koop] Home to some of the world’s most biodiverse areas, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay are stepping up the protection of millions of square kilometres of ocean. The move is part of a global target to safeguard at least 10% of the world’s marine and coastal areas by 2020. Marine protected areas (MPAs) – stretches of water managed for conservation – are rising and now cover 8.4% of Latin America’s oceanic territory. Countries in the Southern Cone – Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay – are...

China Dives Into Deep-Sea Mining

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-03-29 14:42:01

China’s most famous manned deep-sea submersible, recently upgraded at great expense, is named after the legendary aquatic dragon Jiaolong. Another mythical dragon, the Dragon King, also frequents the seabed, in a palace filled with unimaginable treasures. While the palace may be legendary, the Jiaolong could soon be set to find real treasures, 7,000 metres deep. In 2020, it will commence its first round-the-world voyage and one of its key tasks will be to investigate seabed minerals. China is the world’s largest manufacturer of electronics,...

Tough Policing is Restoring Indonesia's Fisheries

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-02-15 13:31:20

[By Nithin Coca] Five years ago the world’s most populous archipelago nation started taking action against the decimation of its fish stocks. Indonesia’s waters were being plundered by vessels from nearby countries, particularly China and Thailand, but also Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia. When Susi Pudjiastuti became minister of fisheries and maritime affairs in 2014, she began dramatically curbing this practice of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. A report last year found a more than 80% drop in foreign vessels fishing in...

How Wildlife Traffickers Use Chinese New Year

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-02-08 12:03:15

[By Denise Hruby] Abalone will be on the banquet table of many Chinese families celebrating Spring Festival this year. The sea mollusc will probably have been illegally poached and smuggled all the way from Africa by criminal syndicates to be steamed, braised, sautéed or turned into a creamy sauce. The animal is a popular ingredient in Cantonese cuisine, particularly for celebrations. Individuals caught in the wild fetch a higher price than those farmed in China. Those from South Africa, where...

Overfishing Threatens East Africa's Nile Perch

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-01-18 17:45:27

[By Geoffrey Kamadi] Eunice Atieno Ong’iro, 34, slices open a Nile perch and pulls out an off-white organ, hardly a fistful in size. She places it on a scale, jots down its weight in a notebook and stores it away in a plastic bag. In just a few seconds the process is complete and she is ready to do it again. “They come every three days to collect the maw,” she says, referring to the traders who purchase the organs...

Does West Africa Benefit from Foreign Trawling?

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-01-11 13:37:02

[By John Virdin] Coastal and island countries are increasingly looking to the sea to provide food and jobs for their growing populations in an uncertain global economy. Roughly one third of the world’s assessed fish stocks are considered overfished. Experience shows that well-managed ocean fisheries can provide large economic benefits. In fact, the World Bank estimates that ocean fisheries could provide US$83 billion more each year if better managed. Many poorer coastal and island countries try to make money by selling access...

Petrochemical Leak Hits Local Aquaculture Industry in Fujian

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-01-04 19:38:10

[By Feng Hao] One lunchtime in November last year, Zhang Yan, from Xiaocuo, a village in Quanzhou, Fujian province, walked into his kitchen and was met by an acrid odour that made him nauseous. He was cooking sea bass from the family fish farm, near the site of a major chemical leak earlier that month. Despite official notices that local water and air quality are up to standard and aquatic products safe to eat, Zhang is adamant that the leak, of “C9 aromatic solvent”, was...

China's Marine Reserves: Under New Management

By China Dialogue Ocean 2018-10-26 15:18:20

Shedao Island is small, but it’s home to thousands of pit vipers, which wrap themselves around tree branches to ambush small migrating birds. The island, which lies about 10 kilometres south-west of China’s Liaoning peninsula is less than one square kilometre in size. China designated the island as its first marine reserve in 1963 in order to protect the vipers. The State Council expanded it in 1980 to include Laotieshan, a forested mountain area on the nearby mainland that supports egrets, cranes and Mandarin ducks, thereby covering...

Antarctic Commission Considers Giant Marine Protected Areas

By China Dialogue Ocean 2018-10-19 08:50:02

[By Fermin Koop] The future of the Antarctic hangs in the balance. Twenty-four countries and the European Union are meeting in Hobart, Australia, from October 22 to vote on a proposal to extend ocean protections around the South Pole. There have been several failed attempts as countries have strong interests in the region that they want to safeguard. It’s the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), an international organisation that regulates the...