Check out this post from greenpeace about Chinese fishing vessels

Four young Chinese crewman meet us with smiles and welcomes. They tell us that some of them have been on board for 2 years, non-stop. The trawler itself has been out here for eight years, and would probably be kept going for another six or so, or as long it lasted.

Here's the thing - these ships seldom, or ever, visit a port. They're re-supplied, refuelled, re-crewed and transhipped (unloaded) at sea. The owners and crews don't seem to do any basic maintenance, apart from keeping the engine and winches running. There's no glass in the portholes, and the masts are a mess of useless wiring. These floating deathtraps don't carry any proper safety gear - on one boat, I saw the half-barrel case of an inflatable liferaft being used to store a net...

We move to the second ship, where again, a bunch of friendly young guys have been sitting at anchor for two months, waiting technical help and a new crew. Their engine doesn't work, and they no safety gear or radio. They can, however, run their watermaker, for desalinating seawater. Lines of drying fish hang over the deck, but they're running out of other food, and are often forced to signal other fishing boats for help. Like everyone else, their future is uncertain.

*emphasis added. Link picked up from BoingBoing

While the idea of ghost ships intrigues me in a "little boy exploring everything" kind of way... living on one for years at a time gives me the heebie jeebies. The economics of the situation are interesting in that it's "cheaper" to let these ships and crews rot at sea whlie doing illegal fishing. I offer no commentary on the Greenpeace agenda.