Credit photo: Vietnamese fishermen are furious at China’s summer fishing ban (Image: GETTY)
FURIOUS fishermen from Vietnam and the Philippines have called on their Governments to stand up to China ahead of this summer’s annual fishing ban in the South China Sea.
- State-run Xinhua News said the clampdown would “safeguard the rights and interests of marine fisheries and protect the marine ecological environment”. The China Coast Guard (CCG) and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs have promised to crack down on all so-called illegal activity during the three-and-a-half month ban that ends August 16.
- The Vietnam Fisheries’ Society: “Vietnamese fishermen have complete rights to fish in waters under their sovereignty.”. They called for increased sea patrols to protect local fishermen in Vietnam’s territorial waters.
- Fernando Hicap, chairman of the National Federation of Small Fisherfolk Organisations in the Philippines, said: “The Philippine government should not waste time and wait for Chinese maritime officers to arrest our fishermen.
- Hunter Stires from US Naval War College’s John B. Hattendorf Centre for Maritime Historical Research: “To make its draconian vision a reality, China is working to impose its will and its own domestic laws on other countries’ fishermen and local Southeast Asian civilian mariners throughout the South China Sea. The fishing ban covers an area that is flagrantly beyond China’s lawful jurisdiction and deep within its neighbours’ exclusive economic zones.”
Source: Express
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