Chinese fishing boats shamelessly caught off Japanese fishing grounds | World



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Japan’s Department of Fisheries was forced to recommend that Japanese fishing boats operate elsewhere to avoid a collision, according to the report. The Asahi Shimbun.

According to a report from Japan’s Department of Fisheries on October 21, in late September, patrol boats issued a warning to 2,589 Chinese vessels, asking them to leave the Yamatotai fishing ground, a figure four times higher than the same period last year.

The Japanese Coast Guard also said that as of Oct. 16, its patrol boats had issued a similar warning order to 102 Chinese fishing boats.

Japanese fishing boats often go to the Yamatotai fishing ground in the Japanese EEZ, about 350 km off the Noto Peninsula, to catch squid and crabs in the autumn months. In previous years, the Japanese coast guard had similar problems with North Korean fishing boats and had to ask 4,000 Korean boats to leave the area by 2019.

In October 2019, a Japanese coast guard collided with a Korean fishing boat. The Korean ship sank and 60 crew members boarded other fishing boats.

This year, the Japanese coast guard had to face a single Korean vessel, but the Japanese Department of Fisheries feared it would be difficult to eject thousands of Chinese vessels from the area.
Analysts say there are a number of reasons why Chinese ships show up in northeast Japan. One theory is that Chinese fishing boats are overfishing their fishing grounds, leading to depletion, so they switch to fishing elsewhere. According to another theory, China is trying to challenge Japan’s determination to guarantee territorial integrity, while at the same time challenging the reaction and capacity of the coast guard.




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