Japanese fishing boats told to look elsewhere for catch as Chinese ships take over traditional grounds

Name: China imposes a 10-year fishing ban for Yangtze River to protect marine biodiversity
Uploaded: 2020-10-22T08:07:55.000Z
Duration: 1 min 57 s
Description: China imposes a 10-year fishing ban for Yangtze River to protect marine biodiversity

Government says thousands of Chinese vessels refuse to leave area rich in flying squid and crabs

Japanese fishermen advised to leave to avoid clashes as some warn that Beijing may be testing Tokyo’s territorial resolve

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Japan’s coastguard has ordered over 100 Chinese fishing boats out of Japanese waters so far this year. Photo: Japan Coast Guard

Julian Ryall

Published: 4:07pm, 22 Oct 2020Updated: 10:39pm, 22 Oct 2020

Thousands of Chinese fishing boats have ignored demands that they leave the rich fishing grounds within Japan’s exclusive economic zone off the northwest coast, with the Fisheries Agency in Tokyo forced to recommend that Japanese trawlers operate elsewhere to avoid clashes.

The Fisheries Agency on Wednesday said its patrol vessels had ordered 2,589 Chinese vessels to leave Japanese waters around the Yamatotai grounds as of the end of September, nearly four times the number compared with the same period of last year. Japan’s coastguard has confirmed that its ships had issued similar orders to 102 Chinese ships during the year through October 16, up from 12 incidents in 2019.

The Yamatotai area, some 350km off the Noto Peninsula, is a favourite among Japanese crews, who catch “surumeika” flying squid and crabs in the autumn months.

In previous years, Japanese authorities have had a similar problem with North Korean fishing boats operating in the area, with 4,000 North Korean boats ordered to leave the area in 2019, sometimes hastened on their way with water cannons.

Confrontations between the two sides have escalated, with a Japanese coastguard boat colliding with a North Korean ship in October last year. The Korean ship sank, with its 60 crew members picked up and placed on other fishing boats.

The coastguard has only encountered one North Korean vessel this year, although there is concern that it may be more difficult to dislodge thousands of Chinese ships from the area.

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China imposes a 10-year fishing ban for Yangtze River to protect marine biodiversity

Akitoshi Miyashita, a professor of international relations at Tokyo International University, said the Japanese government may have made a mistake by instructing its fishermen to leave the area.