China Dialogue Ocean

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

Study: Temporary Fishing Bans Can Protect Fish Stocks

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-07-12 18:58:51

[By David Adam] Temporary fishing bans could be the best way to protect the world’s fish stocks while still providing enough to eat, a new study claims. The results suggest that fishing activity focused into periodic open seasons separated by several years of closures could be a more workable conservation solution than permanent bans. The study, from an international team of scientists, argues these so-called “pulse harvests” of fish can address concerns about stock sustainability, while also ensuring enough fish...

High Stakes for China as WTO Fishing Subsidies Cap Looms

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-07-05 10:22:27

[By Todd Woody] As the World Trade Organisation confronts a deadline this year to reach an agreement to eliminate subsidies that are decimating global fish populations, perhaps no nation faces higher stakes than China. China operates the planet’s largest fishing fleet, catches the most seafood and hands out the most money in fuel subsidies and other support that enables industrial trawlers to travel to the furthest reaches of the ocean. As a result of the expansion of global fishing...

Oil Exploration Threatens Brazil's Abrolhos Marine Park

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-06-28 19:51:05

[By Manuela Andreoni] When officials from Brazil’s main environmental protection agency, Ibama, advised against the auction of oil exploration blocs near Abrolhos national park, they were told by their boss, Eduardo Bim, to think again. Bim had been informed by the executive-secretary of the Ministry of the Environment that the issue was of “strategic relevance” and so wrote a report overruling his own staff and allowing the auction to go through. Abrolhos national park is the richest area of marine...

Fighting the Illegal Trade in Whale Ivory

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-06-14 10:15:55

Zheng Ruiqiang, 35, is one of very few Chinese academics of his age to specialize in cetaceans – whales, dolphins and porpoises – particularly endangered species. Two years ago, he quit his job with a charity in Beijing and accepted an invitation to return home and take up a postdoctoral research post at Shantou University’s Marine Biology Institute. He focuses on conservation of the small remaining population of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, also known as the Chinese white dolphin. He witnessed the...

Sierra Leone Takes Steps to Tackle Illegal Fishing

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-05-24 14:06:09

[By Olusegun Ogundeji] April was a “closed season” for industrial fishing in Sierra Leone, in a bid to prevent further depletion of dwindling fish populations. But as simple as introducing a month-long ban may seem, it has taken the country decades to get there. Sierra Leone has one of the richest fisheries in West Africa. But populations have plummeted since the 1980s when fleets from countries as far away as Spain, Korea and the then Soviet Union began to exploit...

Op-Ed: China is Well-Placed to Make Shipping "Green"

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-05-22 13:47:28

[By Ned Molloy] The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, said last month that his country’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to stimulate global trade and integration must be “green and sustainable”. Media coverage of the BRI has focused so far on how to ensure environmental standards on the land-based “belt”. But there has been far less discussion about the other half of this vast global project – the 21st-century “maritime silk road”, in which Chinese firms are involved in either building...

Should China Create an Emissions Control Area Through IMO?

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-05-03 17:40:01

[By Mao Xiaoli and Dan Rutherford] Emissions from ships caused the early deaths of more than 20,000 Chinese people in 2015, according to a recent study. China has been taking steps to curb this blight, notably by expanding its domestic emission control areas (DECAs) to cover the country’s entire coastline. While an important step, this new “national” DECA has room for improvement. The four emission control areas currently managed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) offer good points of reference. The...

Report: China Ranks Worst on Global Illegal Fishing Index

By China Dialogue Ocean 2019-05-02 09:53:24

[By Gilles Hosch] An index launched in February scores countries according to their degree of exposure to and quality of response towards illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. China received the worst score out of 152 coastal states assessed worldwide. This is a key finding, given that China is in many respects the most important fishing nation on the planet, conferring its flag to a vast fleet of thousands of fishing vessels and fish carriers, operating not just within the Chinese exclusive...

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,...