A new international report highlights one of the world’s most important squid fisheries in the South-East Pacific, now facing serious environmental and social risks. According to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), the growing presence of China’s distant-water fleet on the high seas is worsening overexploitation, regulatory gaps and human rights violations. The warning comes just days before a key regional fisheries governance meeting.
The EJF report and the expansion of China’s fleet
The new report “Unseen and unaccountable: The growing threat of China’s squid fleet in the South Pacific”, published by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), highlights how one of the world’s most important squid fisheries is sliding toward an ecological and social crisis. According to the organisation, large Chinese fleets are operating in the South-East Pacific by exploiting weak governance, limited transparency and regulatory loopholes.
EJF also reports that squid caught by China National Fisheries Corporation — a company linked to some of the most serious abuses in the fishing and labour sectors — has been exported to the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom.
The report documents the scale and intensity of China’s deep-water squid fleet, which targets giant squid, a key species supporting marine food webs and regional fisheries. Despite clear signs of overexploitation, fishing effort continues to increase while regulation has failed to keep pace.
Environmental impacts and human rights violations
The investigation identifies persistent transparency shortcomings within the Chinese fleet, enabling destructive fishing practices, environmental damage and human rights violations. More than 50% of interviewed crew members reported physical abuse, while nearly 60% told EJF that shark finning occurred on board their vessels.
Steve Trent, CEO and founder of EJF, stated that China’s industrial squid fleet in the South-East Pacific operates beyond effective oversight. According to Trent, the lack of regional transparency and accountability is causing environmental harm and putting lives at risk, stressing that transparency in industrial fishing can no longer be optional but must form the foundation of a safe and sustainable ocean.
EJF also expressed concern about bycatch and ecosystem disruption, noting that squid are highly sensitive to environmental changes and play a crucial role in regulating marine ecosystems. Their overexploitation risks triggering cascading impacts across the entire Pacific Ocean.
The role of SPRFMO and the regulatory gap
The investigation was released just days before a series of meetings of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), scheduled to take place in Panama from 24 February to 6 March. EJF emphasises the urgent need for states to cooperate in order to prevent fishery collapse.
At regional level, SPRFMO has not yet adopted significant conservation and management measures for squid, despite growing scientific evidence of declining catch rates and increasing fishing pressure. The absence of catch limits, effective monitoring systems and enforceable safeguards leaves the fishery dangerously exposed.
The Humboldt squid and its regional economic weight
The Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas), known in South America as jibia or pota, is a key fishery resource in the South-East Pacific. With annual catches exceeding one million tonnes, it ranks among the most important fisheries worldwide.
Exploitation is concentrated mainly in Peru (51% during 2019–2023), China (41%) and Chile (7%). In Peru and Chile, the fishery supports tens of thousands of artisanal fishers, with more than 6,000 vessels operating in national waters under strict management systems that include annual quotas and, in Peru, seasonal closures to protect reproduction.
The Comité para el Manejo Sustentable del Calamar Gigante (CALAMASUR) confirms that in international waters of the South-East Pacific — where the Chinese fleet operates almost exclusively — a regulatory vacuum allows unlimited fishing under an open-access regime.
According to CALAMASUR president Alfonso Miranda, during SPRFMO’s 13 years of existence China has caught around 5 million tonnes of squid. Between 2020 and 2024, annual landings exceeded 400,000 tonnes, representing an increase of approximately 65% compared with the previous decade, despite the absence of scientific advice ensuring sustainability.
Research by Chile’s Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP) has highlighted worsening squid health conditions on the high seas. CALAMASUR also points to a clear competitive imbalance: while artisanal fishers in coastal states must comply with quota-based management systems, the Chinese fleet — composed of 671 large industrial vessels — can operate without limits, allowing China to overtake Peru as the world’s leading producer in recent years.
International mobilisation and reform proposals
More than 50 organisations from Latin America, Europe and North America have submitted a joint declaration to SPRFMO, calling for urgent measures to improve conservation and management of Humboldt squid on the high seas.
Signatories include artisanal fisher organisations from Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru, companies within the squid supply chain, and international environmental groups such as EJF, Oceana, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Innovations for Ocean Action Foundation. Despite historical differences, they share the conviction that without effective regulation of the high seas, this fishery has no future.
The nine conservation and management proposals to be discussed at the 14th meeting of the SPRFMO Commission, scheduled for March 2026 in Panama, include regulating fishing effort, introducing precautionary catch limits, strengthening monitoring and enforcement, and safeguarding crew members’ rights.
The call for greater global transparency
According to CALAMASUR, SPRFMO must act responsibly to safeguard the sustainability of the squid fishery and the livelihoods of thousands of artisanal fishers in Latin America.
EJF urges member states to adopt science-based catch limits, strengthen monitoring and enforcement, and close regulatory loopholes that allow destructive practices to continue. The report also calls on coastal, port and market states to play a stronger role in enforcing regulations and preventing abuses in ports and supply chains.
Central to the proposed reforms is the urgent adoption and implementation of the Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency, which sets out practical and low-cost measures to promote sustainable, legal and ethical fishing, including full disclosure of vessel ownership data, mandatory monitoring and public access to fisheries information.
For Steve Trent, the crisis can be resolved: the necessary tools already exist, and Peru’s example — having significantly reduced illegal fishing by requiring more monitoring data — shows that what is needed is broader political will.