The Philippine Territory

Prior to the shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman whose vessel was intercepted poaching in Philippine waters off the Batanes islands on May 9, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) recorded at least 19 incursions into this area since 2006.

The incursions of Taiwanese vessels suspected of illegal poaching have made the northern waters a virtual Taiwanese fishing ground, beyond the control of the PCG. After the shooting incident, which has sparked a major diplomatic dispute between the Philippines and Taiwan, a PCG official, who requested anonymity because of the political sensitivity of the dispute, told the Inquirer that an undisclosed number of Taiwanese fishing vessels caught by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources have since 2006 remained in BFAR custody.


One of the seized vessels has been fined P13 million by the BFAR and some of the fishermen have been charged in local courts, according to this official. The BFAR operates surveillance vessels, most of them manned by PCG personnel, but since the pullout of the BFAR surveillance ship 3001 from the Batanes islands, there had been no significant Coast Guard presence in the area. “Fishermen, mainly from Taiwan, are having a fiesta,” the official said, “especially now, which is a fishing season.”

The Inquirer reported that last year, the surveillance ship was one of several ships deployed by the government to the West Philippine Sea during the standoff between the Philippines and China over Scarborough Shoal. Whether the ship would be returned to the Batanes sea depends upon the outcome of the current parallel but separate inquiries  by the Philippines and Taiwan into the May 9 shooting.

On Wednesday in Taiwan, a National Bureau of Investigation team examined the Taiwanese fishing vessel involved in the May 9 shooting to gather evidence to back the Philippine claim that the fishing boat had tried to ram the PCG vessel, causing its men to fire shots in self-defense.

Read more: http://opinion.inquirer.net/53645/taiwan-should-compensate-ph-for-its-incursions#ixzz2bguA1zpU