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Chinese Boats "Increasingly Violating" South Korean Waters - Police

Posted on: Monday, 7 November 2005, 06:00 CST

Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap

Inchon, 7 November: The number of Chinese boats caught for alleged poaching in South Korean waters has reached 869 so far this year, a five-fold increase from 2001, maritime police said Monday [7 November].

The increase in illegal fishing by Chinese boats should be tackled as soon as possible, since it could bring unwanted clashes between South Korean and Chinese fishermen and diplomatic friction, maritime officials said.

The number of illegal fishing cases by Chinese boats was 174 in 2001, 175 in 2002, 240 in 2003 and 656 in 2004.

Rich fishing areas such as the waters off Mokpo, 410 kilometres southwest of Seoul, and southern island of Cheju are the prime targets of the Chinese boats.

The Mokpo Coast Guard said it has caught as many as 436 Chinese boats so far this year, and the Cheju Maritime Police said it caught 216 Chinese vessels.

The Chinese boats vary in size from 10-ton-class wooden vessels to 100-ton-class steel vessels, police said.

The maritime police attributed increasing Chinese poaching to the strengthened patrols of its territorial waters.

The police have deployed an increased number of patrol boats, including in a special crackdown on illegal fishing boats in July and September, officials said.

But maritime experts say the South Korea's widened territorial waters since July and relatively low fines for violators compared with those of China and Japan may have helped increase illegal Chinese fishing.

This refers to a fisheries agreement between the two countries in which the 100-kilometre-wide quasi-territorial waters of South Korean were integrated into its Exclusive Economic Zone from July.

The experts expressed concern that such an increased presence by Chinese boats in South Korean waters might touch off unexpected clashes and legal battles.

In May, four South Korean coast guardsmen were injured in a scuffle with Chinese fishermen illegally operating in waters off Inchon, west of Seoul.

Earlier this year, South Korean fisherman captured a Chinese boat for alleged illegal fishing.

Such incidents could recur since scuffles are not unusual during seizure operations for fleeing Chinese fishing boats, they said.

Also, in March, hundreds of South Korean fishermen sued the Beijing government for 87.9bn won (86m US dollars) in damages, claiming they suffered a huge loss of fish due to illegal Chinese fishing.

The fishermen accused the Chinese government of neglecting to check Chinese fishing boats, despite a bilateral fishing accord.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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