Chinese Vessels Decimating Angolan Fish Stocks, Local Fishermen Say

ADF STAFF

Fishermen near Benguela, Angola, pulled their artisanal canoes from the sun-splashed surf as fish sellers walked along the beach with baskets on their heads.

Neither the canoes nor the baskets were brimming with fish.

“It is the Chinese trawlers that have caused the fish to go far away,” local fisherman Jose Caterca told Voice of America (VOA). “So, it’s more difficult for us.”

Caterca is one of about 50,000 artisanal canoe operators in Angola, where about 100,000 people work in the fisheries sector.

Tito Catumbela owns several artisanal fishing boats and is a member of the local Ondjalay Fishing Cooperative, which has about 20 members. His tone went from neutral to stern when asked about the presence of Chinese trawlers.

“When they notice that the fish are circulating more in the low waters, they move into this part, ruining all the investments we made,” Catumbela said. “When they find [our fishing nets], they drag everything away. It’s too expensive for us. We want to be heard by the [authorities], because the Chinese ignore us when we try to talk to them.”

The lack of fish has caused prices to double, according to fish trader Pachi Sabino.

“People complain about the price, it’s very difficult,” she told VOA. “All kinds of fish … Caribbean red snapper, sardines and mackerel are even more expensive.”

‘Literally Going Hungry’

China commands the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet and is the world’s worst illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing offender, according to the IUU Fishing Index. Of the top 10 companies engaged in illegal fishing globally, eight are from China.

Chinese trawlers throughout West Africa are known for using illegal tactics, such as fishing with explosives, fishing with artificial lights, fishing in areas reserved for artisanal fishermen and practicing “saiko,” the illegal transshipment of fish at sea.

Bottom trawling is perhaps the most destructive illegal practice employed by Chinese trawlers.

The practice wrecks ecosystems that fish need to survive and indiscriminately catches all manner of marine life. Around Africa, China’s bottom trawl fleet catches an estimated 2.35 million tons of fish a year worth more than $5 billion, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).

Chinese trawlers also are notorious for targeting endangered and vulnerable marine life, including sharks and rays in Angola, where industrial fishing companies from Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Korea and Taiwan also operate.

The country soon may face the decline and collapse of its fisheries if industrial fishing is not properly managed, according to Steve Trent, chief executive officer and founder of the EJF, which for years has tracked China’s illegal fishing across the world.

“We’re seeing the Chinese distant-water fleet scooping out vast amounts of fish, very rarely for local consumption, much more often for international sale, which leaves coastal communities in multiple countries across Sub-Saharan Africa literally going hungry,” Trent told VOA.

‘A Serious Concern’

Angolan authorities struggle to combat illegal fishing. The country has only 15 patrol boats to cover its 1,650-kilometer coastline.

Carmen dos Santos, Angolan minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, in February acknowledged that IUU fishing is “a serious concern for the country.”

That month, the Southern African Development Community’s SADC Atlantic project began training 50 monitoring, control and surveillance officers in Angola through SADC’s Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Coordination Center (MCSCC) and Stop Illegal Fishing, an African nonprofit organization.

The United States Embassy in Botswana funded SADC Atlantic, which formed in 2022 to support counter-IUU fishing efforts in Angola, Namibia and South Africa.

In March, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) held a national workshop in Angola to develop a plan to implement the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures, to which Angola became a party in 2022.

The developing plan aims to improve Angola’s policy, legal and institutional frameworks; strengthen its fishing vessel monitoring, control and surveillance system; and increase regional cooperation in the fight against illegal fishing.