Japan imposes heavy fines on Chinese fishing boats for illegal fishing
Japan released a team of Chinese fishermen on December 31 after they accepted a fine of nearly $50,000 for illegal fishing.
In the presence of Chinese consulate staff in Japan, captain Lam The Kham and all other fishermen involved in this case were released at around 6:00 p.m. (local time) and boarded a boat leaving the waters near Kagoshima Prefecture at 7:25 p.m. to return to China.
Previously, these people and their boat were arrested by the Japanese Coast Guard off the coast of Kagoshima city, southern Japan on the night of December 29.
A Chinese foreign ministry official said Beijing had sent diplomatic representatives to the Japanese detention facility in Kagoshima to help resolve the incident peacefully.
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With the guarantee from the Chinese Consulate General in Japan, Captain Lam The Kham will have to pay the above fine within 30 days.
Captain Lam's fishing vessel is registered in Fujian province, China. He admitted entering Japanese territorial waters but denied the accusation of illegal coral fishing.
However, the Japanese coast guard discovered 1.5 kg of coral on board.
These Chinese fishermen admitted their guilt and promised to pay a fine for illegally fishing coral in Japan's exclusive economic zone.
Chinese fishing vessels often head far away from the waters east of mainland China as fish stocks there have been depleted.
The arrest of the Chinese fishing boat occurred just months after tensions between China and Japan over the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands flared up.
On the same day the fishermen were released, the China State Marine Surveillance Administration (SOA) announced that it would send three more maritime surveillance ships to patrol the waters around the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.
On December 28, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun assured the press that China “will not cause trouble but certainly is not afraid of any trouble” related to the above mentioned archipelago.
Also in December 2012, China twice sent planes into the airspace over the above-mentioned island waters./.
According to VOV - DT
