Pacific Andes factory vessel lands on illegal fishing list – China Fishery Group “disappointed” to be on the list

Pacific Andes’ flagship factory trawler Damanzaihao, formerly known as Lafayette, is on the final list of vessels marked as engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing drafted by the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization’s technical and compliance committee. Also on the list is Avrora, alternatively spelt as Aurora, the Russian-flagged trawler previously known as Pacific Conqueror and with former ties to Pacific Andes. Read the rest here 08:48

3 Responses to Pacific Andes factory vessel lands on illegal fishing list – China Fishery Group “disappointed” to be on the list

  1. DickyG says:

    What a surprise! This company, “China Fishery”, in 2010, was greenwashed by EDF, MSC, and WWF. It’s understandable why EDF, a champion of fisheries consolidation (by relentlessly pushing catch share ITQs), didn’t see any reason not to add China Fishery to its list of clients—for the purpose of “advising” them on sustainability.

    The catch share ITQ consolidation of small privately owned fishing operations sets the stage for this kind of industrial takeover and the reprehensible business practices that inevitably follow. And EDF proclaims that local fishermen need 100% Electronic Monitoring ankle bracelets, right?

    From a previous article on this debacle:

    All the public sees is EDF”s and the other various ENGO’s glossy eco-presentations and their seductive anti-small boat fishing pitches for contributions; so, unsuspecting people anti-up and feel good about helping the environment. All the while these EDF slugs are in the forefront of sanctioning the globalization-privatization scams that have the world economy wheezing, a lot of people starving, and the environment disintegrating (fish included).

    One of EDF’s major ruses is “greenwashing”. In this case of the China Fishery , it is sweetening the image of one of the worst eco-culprits on the planet. EDF along with the World Wildlife Fund and the Marine Stewardship Council form a “sustainability committee” of “outside experts with a background in sustainability” to advise China Fishery (a Huge conglomerate fish company with a sordid reputation as one of the worst violators of fishery conservation standards worldwide—ocean drift nets etc.) on how to be “sustainable”.

    This “sustainability committee” will greenwash the image of the dirty China Fishery so the Carlyle Group ($90bn– one of the world’s largest hedge funds) won’t look so bad when they sink $190m into China Fishery so it can acquire more fish quota and vessels—Russian Pollock, Peruvian anchovetta and jack mackerel—and eventually, perhaps some nice New England groundfish to round out their portfolio.

    The Hong Kong Senior Director of the Carlyle Group, Patrick Siewert , speaks of the China Fishery in terms of the “…company’s South Pacific high seas operation which used to be labeled as pirate fishing ” but (Carlyle) is now supportive of the company’s operations in the South Pacific. This new eco-feasibility for China Fishery appears to be due to a South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization and, of course, the expert sustainability advice of a “committee” comprised of EDF, WWF and the MSC…who else but EDF would be sanctioning a sordid operation such as this global fish grab?.

    Patrick Siewert says of China Fishery’s newly found eco-religion, “We fully support the company’s work with the relevant government organisations to develop quotas and we think that they [quotas] are our friend, long term”. He’s referring here to quotas as requiring catch limits and so therefore friendly to sustainability; but the quotas are also owned by a conglomerate fish company such as China Fishery and that (acquisition) promises to be very much “…our friend, long term”—no doubt, controlling a good portion of the world’s protein should be very “friendly” to Carlyle investors—if they don’t get busted.

    So this is what our friends the ENGO fish-saving eco-champions are doing to make a few bucks around the world in faraway places; while they build their “expertise in sustainability” by denigrating our small boat independent fishermen here at home. Wonder what the fee was for EDF’s “outside expert advice in sustainability”?

    This info on the China Fishery, Carlyle, and EDF collusion can be found in the Sept. 2010 issue of Fishing News International, pg. 18 (www.intrafish.com). Or read up on China Fishery’s “vertical integration” plans on their web page. http://www.pacificandes.com/html/index.php

    China Fishery is listed in Hong Kong. It is majority owned by Hong Kong-listed Pacific Andes Resources Development, itself majority owned by Singapore-listed Pacific Andes International Holdings. The latter is controlled by N.S. Hong Investment.”

    Now, where exactly would you call in order to make a complaint?

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