Over the last few years illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing has become more recognized as a national security concern.

Fishing, a $401 billion global industry, provides 20% of the protein intake for nearly half of the world’s population, and global fish consumption has been on the rise for almost 60 years. Yet 93% of the world’s fish stocks are fully exploited, overexploited, or significantly depleted, and global climate change is adversely affecting stocks.

It’s axiomatic that sustainment requires effective management. The problem is that fish move, so for management to be truly effective it must be consistently applied both regionally and, really, around the world. In other words, country A’s strong fisheries management practices can be undermined by country B’s if the latter is unwilling or unable to implement strong practices — or worse, if it actively or tacitly condones IUU fishing.

Chinese fishing practices present a truly unique and dire IUU threat. First, China boasts the world’s largest fishing fleet. It uses this fleet, to devastating effect, to meet its population’s huge demand for protein. It also provides generous subsidies, which has incentivized the rapid proliferation of large, capable, “distant water” vessels that can harvest staggering amounts of catch in a single voyage, often by dragging the ocean bottom without regard to fish type, age, or quantity limits.

Chinese-flagged fishing vessels range the world over in search of catch and are notorious for fishing within other nations’ — especially developing nations’ — exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Most recently, a huge Chinese fishing fleet, estimated to have 350-400 vessels, plied the waters near the environmentally sensitive Galapagos islands — a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Read the full article about illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by Michael Sinclair at Brookings.