Opinion | Beijing has a maritime militia in the South China Sea. Sound fishy?
- The discovery of a vast ‘dark fishing fleet’ around South China Sea reefs claimed by Beijing prompts speculation it is really a maritime militia
- But there are other explanations that could shed light on this phenomena
It is often touted as one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints; an arena in which the world’s most powerful militaries are involved in a tense stand-off that has the potential to escalate in terrifying fashion at the drop of a hat.
In “Illuminating the South China Sea’s Dark Fishing Fleets”, the CSIS claims to have discovered a “massive presence of [Chinese fishing] vessels in and around China’s outposts … particularly Subi and Mischief Reefs”. It argues this presence is far out of proportion to the area’s known fishing stocks – and notes that many of the vessels hide their presence by refusing to use Automatic Identification Systems (AIS).
Using the latest satellite, radar and infrared imaging techniques, the centre found that in August 2018 (the busiest month) there were about 300 ships anchored at the two reefs at any given time, and that if all of them were fishing they would account for between 50 and 100 per cent of the total estimated catch in the Spratly Islands.
