Chinese fishing trawlers ply the Exclusive Economic Zones of countries from the Koreas to Kenya. When countries complain or simply reject Chinese efforts, as the Philippines and Vietnam do, Beijing asserts farcical claims to their maritime waters. If that does not force smaller countries to stand down, China’s new fleet of coast guard vessels and smaller frigates will shoot and ram fishermen. Chinese overfishing has driven some stocks—giant clams, sturgeon, and shrimp, for example—to the brink of extinction. Others, like the Chinese paddlefish, are extinct.
Turkey now follow China’s overfishing strategy for both economic and imperial gain in the Aegean Sea.
Chinese overfishing is not simply an economic problem or an environmental tragedy; it also has a profound destabilizing effect. When Somalia’s fishing industry collapsed, many villagers turned to piracy while others joined al-Shabaab, the local Al Qaeda affiliate. In many cases, the Chinese Community Party uses overfishing as part and parcel of its “salami-slicing” imperial strategy; overfishing becomes an asymmetric warfare strategy to solidify claims to sovereignty.
Just as Turkey replicates China’s “salami slicing” to further its imperial ambitions in Cyprus, Syria, and Iraq, so, too, does Turkey now follow China’s overfishing strategy for both economic and imperial gain in the Aegean Sea.
Aquaculture is a huge industry in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. Greece’s aquaculture industry contributes approximately $1 billion to Greece’s gross domestic product, and Turkey’s fishing industry adds $3 billion to Turkey’s gross domestic product.
Increasingly, though, Turkey seeks to cheat and seize unfair advantage. Turkey benefits from state subsidies and, like China, ignores environmental controls. In addition, Ankara heavily subsidizes transport of its products via Turkish Airlines to more than 50 destinations across the United States and Europe, significantly lowering its export costs. This allows Turkey to undercut the market. Turkish fish exports increasingly dominate U.S. and European Union markets due to lower U.S. tariffs (20 percent v. 10 percent) and no quality checks for goods imported into the European Union versus those developed within it.
Turkish officials will still say they want to join the European Union, especially to the American and European diplomats naïve enough to believe them. In reality, Turkey fears the European Union because its heavy regulations would drain the profitability from many industries and deny Turkey the advantage it collects by remaining outside the grouping’s control. As European Union members, however, both Greece and Cyprus must abide by environmental and sustainability regulations. Frankly, as both Greece and Cyprus are mature democracies, citizens would balk if either government sought to prioritize short-term or personal profit over the long-term health of fisheries and the environment.
This discrepancy is evident in a comparison between Greek and Turkish fish farming. Turkey has increased its production from 100,000 tons in 2013 to 556,000 tons in 2023. Such an increase would not be possible without subsidies and the absence of regulations and environmental standards. Over the same period, the European Union and state regulations have capped Greek production at 130,000 tons annually.
Washington and Brussels ]should support Cyprus and Greece in international forums as they call out and combat Turkey’s economic imperialism and illicit maritime activity.
Viewed alone, the growing Turkish encroachment on Greek fishing stocks may appear a low-level dispute that characterizes many neighbors, friends, and foes alike. In the broader context of Turkey’s “Blue Homeland” maritime expansion and challenges to Greek and Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zones, as well as its growing turn toward asymmetric and grey-zone warfare, Washington and Brussels should recognize Turkey’s overfishing as economic imperialism and a deliberate effort to wage war against the economic sustainability of its neighbors’ vital industries.
Not only should the United States and Israel help patrol the Eastern Mediterranean in conjunction with the Greek and Cypriot navies to intercept, interdict and, if necessary, sink Turkish poachers, but Washington and Brussels should support Cyprus and Greece in international forums as they call out and combat Turkey’s economic imperialism and illicit maritime activity. Finally, Washington should help Cyprus and Greece refurbish, upgrade, and expand their coast guards.
One China in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean is enough; the Eastern Mediterranean does not need Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan channeling President Xi Jinping’s same mind in the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Wars have begun over less.
