Bowen Ault | 2025 I.S. Symposium

Name: Bowen Ault
Title: Fantastic Fishing Fleets and Where to Find Them: Investigating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing by the Chinese Deepwater Fishing Fleet in and around the Exclusive Eonomic Zones of Ecuador, Peru, and Chile in the late 2010s
Major: Global and International Studies
Minor: Music
Advisor: Ibra Sene

Starting in roughly 2018, a huge fleet of hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels, complete with tankers, refrigerator ships, and any other vessel needed to keep fishing boats operational for months on end appeared by the Galapagos Islands, cruising between those islands and northern Chile in search of Jumbo Squid. Chinese fishing boats have a long history of causing mischief, most notably in the South China Sea, but their activities have a global range. IUU by the Chinese DWF is most studied in the South China Sea, and significantly less studied in South America. The goal of this IS is to help fill the gap in literature on this topic. By creating historical case studies of three of the Latin American countries most affected by Chinese IUU we can better understand the consequences of leaving IUU unchecked and explore how states are able to resolve problems with larger states without violence. Each of the countries that are studied used a different strategy to combat IUU, and each country had a different level of success. Ultimately, the evidence shows that Ecuador’s strategy of bilateral diplomacy backed by shows of resolve is the best way to resolve fisheries disputes in the 21st century.

Posted in Symposium 2025 on May 1, 2025.