Partnership between AP and Univision delivers an alarming, close-up investigation of China’s distant water fishing fleet off the coast of South America.
Last year, hundreds of Chinese vessels were discovered fishing for squid near the long-isolated Galapagos Islands, a UNESCO world heritage site that inspired 19th-century naturalist Charles Darwin and is home to some of the world’s most endangered species, from giant tortoises to hammerhead sharks. The fleet has long been accused of labor abuses aboard its ships and illegal fishing in the territorial waters of other countries.
Josh Goodman, AP Latin America correspondent, wanted to learn more about the world's largest fishing fleet whose recent arrival to the Americas has stirred fears that it could exhaust marine stocks. Teaming up with video journalists from Univision, Goodman spent 18 days observing the fleet for the first close-up look at the Chinese operations off the coast of South America. He also served as the correspondent for Univision’s investigative program “Aqui y Ahora.”
The joint investigation found possible violations of maritime law and labor abuses. Of the 30 vessels the AP observed closely, 24 have been accused of labor abuses or showed signs of maritime violations. Specifically, 16 ships either sailed with their mandatory safety transponders turned off, broadcast multiple electronic IDs or transmitted information that didn’t match the vessel’s listed name or location.
Crew members of the Ocean Warrior approach the Chang Tai 802, a Chinese-flagged vessel whose Indonesian crew said they had been stuck at sea for years, in a July 2021 photo provided by Sea Shepherd, a Netherlands-based oceans conservation group. One of Chang Tai crew members threw a bottle to the Sea Shepherd with the phone number of his brother in Indonesia.
Isaac Haslam / Sea Shepherd via AP
The Ocean Warrior, background, monitoring the Chinese fishing fleet off the west coast of South America, circles a Chinese-flagged vessel on the high seas in a July 2021 photo provided by Sea Shepherd.
Isaac Haslam / Sea Shepherd via AP
Capt. Peter Hammarstedt, center, campaign director of Sea Shepherd, addresses the crew of the Ocean Warrior on July 13, 2021, during an 18-day high seas voyage to inspect the Chinese overseas fleet as it fishes for squid off the west coast of South America. Hammarstedt says, “Beijing is exporting its overfishing problem to South America.”
AP Photo / Joshua Goodman
The Chinese-flagged Lu Rong Yuan Yu 609 prepares to fish for squid on the high seas near the Galapagos Islands, July 19, 2021. Fishing takes place almost exclusively at night when each ship turns on hundreds of lights to attract swarms of squid. The concentration of lights is so intense it can be seen from space on satellite images that show the massive fleet shining as brightly as major cities hundreds of miles away on land.
AP Photo / Joshua Goodman
Filippo Marini, the third officer aboard the Ocean Warrior, shields his eyes from the light of several Chinese-flagged vessels fishing for squid at night on the high seas off the west coast of South America, July 19, 2021. Marini is an activist for Sea Shepherd.
AP Photo / Joshua Goodman
A Chinese-flagged vessel is anchored on the high seas beyond Ecuador’s territorial waters near the Galapagos Islands, July 19, 2021. In the summer of 2020, hundreds of Chinese vessels were discovered fishing for squid near the long-isolated Galapagos Islands, a UNESCO world heritage site that is home to some of the world’s most endangered species.
Peter Hammarstedt / Sea Shepherd via AP
Children watch a multimedia display at the Squid Museum which opened in April 2021 in the eastern Chinese city of Zhoushan, home to China’s largest distant water fleet. The ultramodern museum allows visitors to follow the squid on a sanitized, adventure-filled 3D journey from the ocean depths to the giant jiggers and their eventual processing back at home into squid rings.
AP Photo
The view from the bridge of the Ocean Warrior at sunset, in a July 2021 photo provided by Sea Shepherd, a Netherlands-based oceans conservation group.
Peter Hammarstedt / Sea Shepherd via AP
Goodman also observed several Indonesian crew members aboard the Chang Tai 802 that has been accused of keeping its crew at sea for years. One of the men called out that he wanted to go home and threw Goodman a bottle with the number of a brother in Indonesia.
The resulting investigation was widely read, getting over 240,000 pageviews. The story was bolstered by strong visual storytelling, including a video explainer, animation and graphics by Phil Holm, Peter Hamlin and Francois Duckett, and a minidocumentary by video journalist Shelby Lum. Dario Lopez oversaw the digital presentation, masterfully blending videos, photos and graphics into an immersive experience that helped make the piece one of the week’s top stories in reader engagement.
Contributing to the package were business writer Joe McDonald and researcher Yu Bing in Beijing, California-based global investigations intern Roselyn Romero and writers Edna Tarigan and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia.
For a deeply reported, authoritative investigation and a compelling presentation, the team of Goodman, Hamlin, Lopez, Lum, Holm and Duckett earns AP’s Best of the Week — Second Award.
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