China hosting fisheries summit with Pacific Island nations in December

China is organizing a summit with Pacific Island countries in December 2021 to further cooperation in fisheries.

The China Pacific Island Nations Fisheries Cooperation Development summit will take place in conjunction with the China Aquaculture Seeds Expo in Guangzhou this December.

China’s focus for the meeting with Pacific Islands leaders appears to be focused on distant-water fishing rather than aquaculture projects, as the head of China Distant-Water Fishing Association joined an organizing committee of officials at a meeting this week in Guangzhou to discuss the summit and potential projects to be discussed. 

The upcoming summit is a follow-up to an October 2019 meeting of the China Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum in Apia, Samoa, at which a declaration was signed to promise “cooperation in sustainable fisheries.”

China has pledged to share its expertise in aquaculture with developing nations in tandem with increasing purchases of agricultural and seafood products from those countries. The upcoming forum follows a forum for Portuguese-speaking African countries that took place recently in the central Chinese province of Hunan.

Chinese fishing firms have a presence in Pacific Island nations including Fiji, Kiribati, and Samoa. Chinese tuna firm Zhejiang Ocean Family earlier this year reported a bumper tuna catch in Pacific Island waters. the firm’s vessels are operating in waters off the strategically located southern Pacific islands of Kiribati and Vanuatu.

Photo courtesy of testing/Shutterstock