Publicly accessible data shows that four Chinese fishing trawlers were not fined for apparent illegal fishing and transshipments at sea near South Africa after being detained by authorities in early March.
The Zhong Yang 231, Zhong Yang 232, Zhong Yang 233 and Zhong Yang 239 initially were found operating illegally inside South Africa’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and territorial waters without permits. Owned by Shenzhen Shuiwan Pelagic Fisheries, the vessels were fined 400,000 rand (about $24,000) for violating their conditions of passage through South African waters.
“Based on the available evidence, there were reasonable grounds to suspect non-compliance with the Marine Living Resources Act,” Willie Aucamp, South Africa’s minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment (DFFE), said in a statement. “The Masters of the vessels were charged and an administrative penalty of R400,000 was imposed. The vessel owner subsequently paid the fine, after which the vessels were released and have departed South African waters.”
DFFE spokesperson Zolile Nqayi said the trawlers were intercepted March 3, between 15 and 20 nautical miles off Hout Bay, and were guarded until March 5. He said no fish were found on the trawlers.
However, South Africa’s GroundUp news agency, using publicly accessible data compiled by Global Fishing Watch (GFW), reported that each of the vessels spent almost four days fishing in Algoa Bay from February 27 to March 2. The bay is in South Africa’s EEZ.
On February 28, the data showed that the Zhongyang 231 and Zhongyang 233 had an “encounter event” from midnight until 8 a.m. According to GroundUp, these events typically indicate transshipments in which cargo or fuel is transferred from one ship to another. Authorization for transshipments usually is required within the EEZ, and a violation may equal a fine of 2 million rand (about $120,000).
After the Zhongyang 231 was released from the Port of Cape Town on March 5, the vessel apparently fished for three hours on March 6 before leaving South African waters with the other trawlers early March 7, GFW data shows. The data raises questions regarding the trawlers’ lone fine for violating their conditions of passage, which has drawn criticism.
“Every now and then (the DFFE) do these operations and say we’re doing our job, but they’re not,” Enrico Gennari, director of Mossel Bay-based Oceans Research, told GroundUp.
South Africa has its own vessel surveillance tool, the Integrated Vessel Tracking (IVT) DeST. The system, available only to authorized users, is touted as “a cornerstone of South Africa’s maritime security and environmental protection strategies” on the country’s National Oceans and Coastal Information Management System website. It was implemented to “ensure effective vessel traffic monitoring that intelligently monitor ships and pollution in near-real time to provide this information directly to users.”
Nqayi told ADF that the IVT system has proved effective in monitoring and tracking vessels that pass through its EEZ and that the department also uses other tracking platforms. Additionally, the vessels were fined only for operating in the EEZ without the required permits because there was no “substantial evidence available to confirm that the vessel transshipped or was involved in illegal fishing activities.”
Nqayi noted that the DFFE’s analysis did not pick up any encounter with a tanker or cargo vessel in the area and that transshipments could have occurred while the vessels’ automated information systems (AIS) were switched off.
“When we enquired about the on and off AIS, the captain blamed the weather and range to the satellite,” Nqayi said. “For the department to confirm that Global Fishing Watch captures the same data as the department AIS, the parties can sit and compare data on a formal sitting and have a session and maybe we may find ways of working together with Global Fishing Watch to enhance surveillance in our ocean.”
At 1.5 million square kilometers, South Africa’s EEZ is among the world’s largest, and analysts say monitoring it is difficult with limited resources.
Nqabisa Gantsho, the National Assembly member who chairs South Africa’s portfolio committee on forestry, fisheries and environment, referenced the Chinese trawlers during a March meeting in which she acknowledged the country’s waters were vulnerable to exploitation by foreign interests. Gantsho commended law enforcement for their swift response but said the incident exposed “systemic vulnerabilities in maritime surveillance and underscored the need for a permanent, technologically advanced enforcement presence,” according to a report by the Parliamentary Monitoring Group.
The interception of the four Chinese trawlers marked the first such incident since April 2020, when six Chinese vessels were detained and fined for entering the EEZ without permission, GroundUp reported.
Chinese vessels have operated illegally in African waters for decades, and Beijing’s distant-water fishing fleet, the world’s largest, is the world’s worst illegal fishing offender, according to the IUU Fishing Risk Index.