International Journal on Criminology Volume 6, Number 2, Winter 2018/Spring 2019 | Page 67

International Journal on Criminology
next to nothing. And they continue to be loaded in unacceptable safety conditions.
This maritime Ponzi loop is global, and an investor can always be found somewhere
on the planet to finance a ship’s “last voyage” with little risk. This cycle continues
until the ship is dismantled at the shipyard, at best, and if not, until it becomes a
shipwreck or an unscrupulous operator turns it into a criminal tool.
We can reconsider the changes in the evolution of the maritime sectors of
fishing and trade using the following two frames of reference: the increase in crime
in a situation of overcapacity and the mechanisms that create this overcapacity.
Overcapacity in Fishing Fleets
Overcapacity in fishing fleets is measured by an excess in fishing capacity
compared to the potential sustainable production of fish stocks in the
fishing zone. This measurement in itself is difficult because there is no
scientific measurement of global fish stocks as a whole in terms of the state of
use of this renewable natural resource. It would also be necessary to identify all
the ships that work in an area, which is made harder by the mobility of flotillas,
in particular those who practice distant-water fishing. It is also difficult because,
given the economic potential of fishing, the countries that own the waters where
this fishing activity takes place are not necessarily concerned about the impact of
deterioration in fish stocks. This economic potential is brought about by the sale of
fishing licenses, the welcoming of joint foreign/national companies to their waters,
and overfishing, which is very profitable at first before the effects of deterioration
are felt.
Another challenge here relates to the distant-water fishing activity of some
overcapacity flotillas. These operate very far from the fiscal and financial environment
that produced them in another decision-making system disconnected from
the natural potential of the stock. It then becomes an issue of concerns on the
geopolitical level of food policies (in a context of global population increases) encountering
the concerns of investors whose wealth is created outside the national
framework.
Given this natural economic potential, we should analyze the long-term
history of the maritime capital of global fishing. It responds to Schumpeterian
cycles fed by technological innovation, access to destination markets, access to
increasingly distant fishing areas, financial assistance, and transfers of fishing capacity
that have become obsolete between areas of the world. These cycles began
at the end of the nineteenth century.
At the end of the Second World War, nearly all fish stocks in the world were
known, but remained almost untouched due to six years of war having forced a
global pause. The necessity of feeding a global population whose protein production
systems had been wiped out by years of war and the need to create jobs led to
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