According to the Norway Based watchdog this highlights the growing concerns about the lack of international cooperation to protect marine species on the high seas, The Singapore Post reported.

The report, published Wednesday by Trygg Mat Tracking, found that the number of squid vessels in the high seas of the Indian Ocean — where fishing of the species is not regulated — has exploded six-fold since 2016, the newspaper reported.

The vast majority of the vessels sailing in the high seas off the coast of Oman and Yemen were flagged to China, whose overseas fleet, the world’s largest, has been dogged by accusations of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing around the world, the newspaper report said.

A large number of Chinese fleets are reportedly operating on the water that are higher than figure capped.