The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said Friday that three additional large vessels have been dispatched since May 10 to waters south of Taiwan to increase the protection of Taiwanese fishermen in the wake of the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman operating in the area.
A CGA official said that in view of the changes in the region, the CGA has stepped up its protection of Taiwanese fishermen in line with the government’s standard operating procedure.
The ships can pinpoint the locations of Taiwanese fishing boats through a vessel monitoring system every four hours and can then adjust the areas they cover to deal with any contingencies.
“In addition to sending large vessels to the Pratas Islands and the Spratly Islands on a regular basis, the CGA has adjusted the intensity and coverage areas of its ships in accordance with fishing seasons, priority fishing areas or contingencies,” the official said.
He noted that the CGA currently has 184 vessels responsible for the protection of fishing boats in waters around Taiwan, of which 164 range in size from 20 tons to 2,000 tons, with the rest being smaller craft.
The vessels and their crews are equipped with a variety of weapons, including 20 mm guns, T75 light machine guns, Uzi submachine guns, T65 rifles and 90 mm pistols. They are also to be fitted with more powerful 40 mm guns at a later date, the official said.
The CGA noted that Taiwan’s economic zones have serious overlaps with those of China, Japan and the Philippines, and the country follows the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to demarcate the boundary lines according to the practice of international law.
Meanwhile, fishermen from Pingtung County in southern Taiwan who have been putting to sea for bluefin tuna have made bigger catches than last year.
The Tunggang Fishermen’s Association said the haul as of Friday morning was 94, 21 more than the 73 caught during the same period of last year.
An association official attributed the increased haul to the stepped-up protection by the CGA vessels, which has given many fishermen a better sense of security.
In related news that same day, the family of a victim of an earlier Philippine attack in 2006 appealed for the government to give them the same assistance as has been offered to the family of Hung Shih-cheng, who was killed in the May 9 shooting.
In the 2006 incident, a Taiwanese fishing boat registered in Hsingang, Taitung County, was strafed by Philippine law enforcement personnel with M14 and M16 rifles in waters around 500 meters southeast of Batan Island in the northern Philippines, resulting in the death of 67-year-old Chen An-lao and wounding his younger brother, Chen Ming-te.
Although Taiwan prosecuted the Filipino law enforcement personnel, the case went nowhere because the perpetrators refused to come to Taiwan to stand trial.
The Central News Agency