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Ian Urbina

Ian Urbina

Ian Urbina, a former investigative reporter for the New York Times, is the director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on reporting about environmental, labor and human rights crimes at sea.
Ian Urbina, a former investigative reporter for the New York Times, is the director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on reporting about environmental, labor and human rights crimes at sea.
Areas of Expertise:
Workers rights, maritime labor, human rights advocacy
Languages Spoken:
English, Spanish

China has a distant-water fishing fleet twice as big as its nearest rival, but crew members are dying of violence and neglect – and with little regulation, that is unlikely to change any time soon.

Grainy video footage of a slaughter committed in broad daylight, discovered on a lost phone, led to the arrest and conviction of a Chinese sea captain, with the case drawing attention to widespread lawlessness on the oceans and authorities’ inability and reluctance to intervene.

China is said to be the world’s worst offender when it comes to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, a position it could not maintain without hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies handed to it by Beijing.