Fishing boats to protest against patrols

Fishermen Suao will mobilize between 60 and 70 fishing boats to an area off the coast of northern Taiwan today to stage a protest against Japanese patrol ships.

Suao official Lin Kuang-hui (林光輝) said the nation's economic zone overlaps that of Japan, and that local fishing boats operating in waters off northern or northeastern Taiwan are often chased away by Japanese patrol craft.

A large number of fishing boats have been seized by the Japanese authorities and the boat owners or families of the fishermen have to pay for their release, seriously undermining the operating rights of the fishermen, Lin said.

Lin the government has yet to address the problem of the overlapping economic zones.

To express their anger, he said, a large contingent of fishing boats will converge in waters between the Diaoyutai, a tiny group of islets about 140km northeast of Keelung, and Pengchiayu, about 46km from Keelung harbor.

Lin not rule out the possibility that the vessels will deliberately go into the overlapping part of the economic zones to confront the Japanese patrol boats.

Coast authorities in Suao said that to prevent conflicts between Taiwanese fishermen and Japanese patrol ships, they will send a ship to escort the protesting vessels.