A look at the fight against illicit seafood: China’s role in it, the companies involved, and why the U.S. is cracking down on the practice now.
U.S. soldiers and Coast Guard officers approach a Chinese fishing vessel during an Oceania Maritime Security Initiative mission in the Pacific Ocean, November 29, 2016. Credit: US Navy via Alamy
U.S. sanctions enforcers have a new sector in their sights: illegal fishing. Last week, the Treasury Department imposed some of its harshest financial sanctions on two large Chinese fishing companies and their top executives, in a major show of force by the Biden administration.
One of the sanctioned companies, Pingtan Marine Enterprise, is publicly listed on the Nasdaq stock market, making it the first time that Washington has imposed “Global Magnitsky” sanctions, which target the worst human rights offenders, on a U.S.-listed firm.
The move is also bringing fresh attention to Chinese fishing fleets and their involvement in illegal distant water fishing. Environmental groups and governments have long criticized this practice, which both depletes stocks of endangered fish and encroaches on the sovereign waters of foreign countries.
This week, The Wire looks at the fight against illicit seafood: China’s role in it, the companies involved, and why the U.S. is c
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