Beijing is using the country’s fisherman as the advance guard to press its expansive territorial claims, experts …
Beijing is using the country’s fisherman as the advance guard to press its expansive territorial claims, experts say. Photo by Adam Dean for The Washington Post
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Dynamiting reefs and using cyanide aren’t considered best practice in Australian fisheries, but they seem to be the norm in the South China Sea.

Depleting fishing grounds in the South China Sea will force those who usually fish in those seas further south including to Australian waters with implications for the environment and border security.

Add to this reef destruction as part of recent Chinese activities to create artificial islands and the use of super trawlers by a range of fishing fleets, and it’s not hard to see why a collapse of this critical global fishery looms.

Australia and the rest of the world should care about this issue and how it is managed. It will have implications for the immediate region and beyond.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/south-china-sea-fishing-needs-to-be-internationalised-20160414-go6pcq#ixzz468gVnHtV