Chinese squid-fishing crews seek to escape beatings and more
Nov. 7, 2023 2 AM PT ABOARD THE OCEAN WARRIOR ON THE SOUTH ATLANTIC — On the high seas roughly a thousand miles north of the Falkland Islands, an 18-year-old Chinese deckhand working on a Chinese squid ship nervously ducked into a dark hallway to whisper his plea for help.“Our passports were taken,” he said to the reporters who had just come aboard. “They won’t give them back.”Fearing he would be overheard, he typed out a message on his cellphone: “Can you take us to the embassy in Argentina?”Few workplaces are as brutal as distant-water fishing ships from China, and there are a lot of them: The nation today operates the world’s largest fleet, which is more than double the size of its next competitor. It’s rarely easy for crew members to leave these ships, and often it’s forbidden. ...