After Hollywood actor and film producer Leonardo DiCaprio recently spoke against China and its deep-sea fishing industry, earning the ire of Chinese state media as the upshot. In late September, DiCaprio had shared a New York Times piece titled ‘How China Targets the Global Fish Supply’ written by Steven Lee Myers, Agnes Chang, Derek Watkins and Claire Fu. The article detailed how after the fishing stocks in the coastal waters of the country were depleted, China “built a global fishing operation unmatched by any other country.” Chinese commercial fishing ships, the article said for instance, fish in waters around the Galápagos Islands, which are part of Ecuador. And not to mention it is thousands of miles away from the Chinese coast.
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While sharing the article, DiCaprio had written on Twitter, “The past two decades have seen China build its deep-sea fishing fleet into the thousands, resulting in China depleting its own stock of fish in oceans closest to them. In turn, their fishermen have sailed to other oceans across the world to continue deep-sea fishing.”
The past two decades have seen China build its deep-sea fishing fleet into the thousands, resulting in China depleting its own stock of fish in oceans closest to them. In turn, their fishermen have sailed to other oceans across the world to continue deep-sea fishing.
— Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) September 28, 2022
In response, the Chinese state-owned Global Times accused one of the authors of the article and former China correspondent Stephen Lee Myers of being “biased” against China. The publication also asked told DiCaprio to “respect facts and stop talking recklessly”. Global Times, published by the People’s Daily newspaper group, covers international news from Chinese nationalistic perspective. It is considered to be a part of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda arm.
DiCaprio highlighted the topic because he has long been a promoter of awareness regarding the climate crisis, sustainable development, and related issues. He has produced and hosted/narrated two documentaries on the issue called ‘Before the Flood’ and ‘Ice on Fire’. He has regularly made donations to charities working in the fields of environment and conservation. He has also been outspoken about industries that are damaging to the ecosystems like fracking and the palm-oil industry of Indonesia.
