Chinese fishing vessels are forbidden from fishing in the country’s own waters until September as part of an annual moratorium designed to reverses depletion of local fish stocks. But the lockdown has coincided with a sharp escalation in incidents involving Chinese trawlers operating suspiciously in other Asian waters.
An Indonesian frigate opened fire on and intercepted a trawler, the Gui Bei Yu-27088, last week near the Natuna Islands in Indonesia's exclusive economic zone, which overlaps with the southernmost reaches of the South China Sea.
Elsewhere in Asia, Malaysian government ministers have threatened to take the Indonesian approach to continued incursions by Chinese vessels: in one recent incident, around 100 Chinese fishing vessels appeared in Malaysian waters simultaneously.
Asian fishing authorities also have their eyes on newly elected Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte, watching to see how he responds to China’s claims to most of the South China Sea. Duterte has already asked Beijing to respect the 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone granted to coastal states under international law. In a separate but related development, China has in recent weeks cut back on its Coastal Guard operations, which have been intercepting Filipino fishing vessels on what the Philippines claims as international waters.
