80 ships → 190 ships in two months… Capture: 4 ships last year → 13 ships this year
(Incheon = Yonhap News) Reporter Kang Jong-gu = It was found that Chinese fishing boats illegally fishing in the waters of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea are still rampant, regardless of the Korean government's strong response policy.
According to the Coast Guard on the 9th, the Coast Guard held a joint briefing with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Unification, Ministry of National Defense, and Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on August 27 and announced the government's comprehensive measures against illegal fishing boats in the NLL.
At the time, the government proposed measures such as strengthening the deployment of the Coast Guard's special suppression unit, forcibly removing illegal fishing gear, installing artificial facilities to prevent illegal fishing, and revising related laws to crack down on anchoring activities unrelated to traffic.
However, the number of Chinese fishing boats in NLL waters more than doubled from about 80 at the end of August when the measures were announced to 190 at the beginning of this month.
Of course, the fall fishing season is a time when the number of illegal fishing boats increases, and compared to the 240 vessels in the same period last year, the number decreased by 50 vessels (26.3%), but the situation is somewhat distant from the Coast Guard's policy of "the goal is to drive out all Chinese fishing boats from NLL waters" at the time of the announcement of the comprehensive plan.
Although the NLL waters are a 'Special Prohibition Zone' where foreign fishing boats are prohibited from fishing, Chinese fishing boats are exploiting the division of North and South Korea to cross the NLL and engage in illegal fishing.
These fishing boats are 'three-free fishing boats' without vessel-related documents, shipping address, or name. As they are unlicensed fishing boats in China, they remain in the NLL waters for a long time and continue illegal fishing due to concerns about crackdowns by the Chinese authorities when they return to port.
These fishing boats often flee to North Korean waters when the Coast Guard begins their capture operation, making crackdowns difficult.
In particular, tensions are rising over crackdowns on Chinese fishing boats in NLL waters due to the deterioration of inter-Korean relations surrounding landmine explosions in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
However, with the cooperation of the Navy, the Coast Guard significantly strengthened crackdowns and seized 13 Chinese fishing boats in NLL waters as of this year.
This is an increase of more than three times compared to the total capture of 4 ships in NLL waters last year.
An official from the Coast Guard said, "As government-wide measures are implemented one by one, we believe that the effect of suppressing illegal fishing by Chinese fishing boats is gradually appearing," and added, "We plan to continue to crack down on illegal fishing by Chinese fishing boats through strong crackdowns."
