AA/Washington/Michael Hernandez
In an unprecedented step, the US Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on Chinese figures and companies for their involvement in violations related to “illegal fishing” in the waters of the Indo-Pacific region.
Among the companies sanctioned is Pingtan Marine Enterprise, a Chinese industrial fishing company listed on the US stock exchange. This is the first time Washington has imposed sanctions on a NASDAQ-listed company.
The US Treasury said in a statement that the sanctions also affect Li Zhenyu and Zhuo Xinrong, Chinese nationals, and 10 entities related to them, including Dalian Ocean Fishing Co and Pingtan Marine Enterprise.
Sanctions were also imposed on 157 Chinese-flagged fishing vessels linked to the sanctioned companies.
Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said the department “condemns the practices of those sanctioned today, who often violate human rights, undermine core labor standards and the environment, and harm economic prospects of people in the Indo-Pacific region”.
Nelson added, in the same statement, that “this step demonstrates how seriously we take the problem of illegal fishing and our commitment to hold perpetrators of serious human rights abuses accountable.”
Citing an example of a violation of workers’ rights, the US official said: “When a worker asked to leave a vessel belonging to one of the above companies, after being informed that he would not receive his pay, he was denied food for 3 days”.
Chinese companies are also accused of participating in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which the US Treasury says “damages ocean ecosystems and sustainable fisheries.”
Regarding the Dalian Ocean Fishing company, the US Department said there were “numerous reports of physical abuse, malnutrition, overwork, wage deductions, as well as the deaths of five crew members.”
The US Treasury also added that Dalian Ocean Fishing participates in shark finning, or “shark finning” and forces its crews to live and work in deplorable conditions for long periods at sea.
So far there has been no reaction from China to the sanctions imposed by Washington.
* Translated from the Arabic by Mounir Bennour.
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