China imposes new fishing ban in East Sea

This fishing ban announced by China will be applied from May 16 to August 1.

China is set to impose a fishing ban in large areas of the South China Sea for two and a half months, effective from next Wednesday (May 16), the Xinhua news agency reported on May 13.

The fishing ban in the South China Sea will also be applied to shoals, according to a Chinese fisheries official.ScarboroughThis is the area witnessing fierce and tense disputes between China andPhilippines.

Fisheries administration ship 310 and two Coast Guard ships are on duty at Scarborough Shoal, ready to arrest any fishing boats that violate China's ban (Photo: Chinanews)

This is not the first time that Chinese leaders have issued a fishing ban in the East Sea. Since 1999, China has regularly issued a summer fishing ban every year in the East Sea area that it claims as its sovereign territory.

China announced that the fishing ban will be in effect from May 16 to August 1. The head of the Chinese Fisheries Administration said that they did so to protect the ecosystem and resources in the East Sea.

The ban will apply to both Chinese and foreign fishermen, including those from countries with sovereignty disputes with Beijing in the resource-rich South China Sea.

China will confiscate boats, equipment and fish from fishermen who violate the rules, Xinhua news agency reported. Violators will be fined and have their fishing licenses revoked.

What is of interest in China's fishing ban in the East Sea this time is that Beijing is encouraging fishermen to concentrate on fishing in the waters surrounding the Truong Sa archipelago.

Fishing ban in the East Sea focuses on shoalsScarboroughIt is really a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it facilitates and urges Chinese fishing vessels to increase their movement southward near the Spratly Islands (under Vietnam's sovereignty) to fish, on the other hand, it creates an excuse for Chinese "official" vessels to arrest Philippine fishing vessels on Scarborough Shoal and gradually asserts China's de facto control in the disputed area with the Philippines.

This move could also be an excuse for China to arrest fishing vessels of other countries operating in disputed waters at the present stage, while increasing the frequency of Chinese state control over this area, which in the long run will be very beneficial for Beijing when negotiating to resolve the dispute.

In the latest confrontation with China in the East Sea,Manilaare seeking to internationalize the dispute. However, Beijing is firmly opposed.

On May 13, Xinhua News Agency published an article saying that theManilaTaking the maritime dispute with Beijing to international court is not a solution.

Previously, according toVNA,On January 17, 2012, the China Fisheries Network also posted Notice No. 01 (January 12, 2012) on the fishing ban in the East Sea as above, but including some sea areas of Vietnam.Male.

On January 20, 2012,VNAquoted Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi as affirming: "Vietnam has undisputed sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea."

Mr. Luong Thanh Nghi emphasized: “China's unilateral implementation of the fishing ban in the East Sea violates Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago, Vietnam's sovereignty and jurisdiction over its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, violates the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and further complicates the situation in the East Sea. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of VietnamMalemet with China and protested China's actions above"./.

According to VOV