Chinese fishing vessel fleet (Photo: The Maritime Executive)

CIMSEC has an interesting take on China’s use of its Distant Waters Fishing Fleet (DWF).

“If the U.S. is serious about “Great Power Competition,” it at least needs to stop scoring “own goals” by funding and emboldening the main competitor. But from the standpoints of both defense and security, these issues cannot be overlooked or marginalized. China is using its DWF globally in a manner that accrues tremendous benefits to the Chinese armed forces.”

The US Coast Guard is certainly trying to help other nations protect their EEZs from unauthorized exploitation by Chinese Fishing Vessels, but currently many nations license Chinese exploitation of their EEZ and there is no way we can prevent the Chinese from fishing in the waters beyond national boundaries. Even if the US stopped buying Chinese caught fish, there are other ready markets. The only result would be raising the cost of fish to US consumers.

What we need are alternative competitive provider of seafood. 

We could have a true win/win by helping the Compact of Free Association States, (Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau) develop distant waters fishing fleets of their own. This would help keep their interests aligned with ours. Motivate them to keep the Chinese out of their EEZ, and direct more cash flow into these small, friendly and strategically important nations.