The Vietnamese government, like others around the region, has been pushing its fishermen to venture farther offshore, to ease the pressure on heavily overexploited coastal fisheries and to back up their territorial claims.
June 20 2011
By Ben Bland in Ly Son island
Financial Times
When Tran Hien, the 31-year-old captain of a Vietnamese fishing boat, saw a large Chinese vessel while sailing near the disputed Paracel Islands, he knew exactly what was about to happen.
Officers from China’s fisheries agency boarded his 15m boat and, with neither party able to understand the other’s language, confiscated nearly $3,000 worth of fish and equipment.
“We were in Vietnamese waters and had every right to be there but there was no way we could outrun them,” says Mr Hien of the incident, which took place at about 9am on June 14.
Mr Hien is one of dozens of Vietnamese fishermen who have had their equipment, fish or even boats seized by Chinese patrol vessels this year, as tension between the two neighbours over contested waters in the South China Sea boiled over.
Hanoi claims that some of its fishermen have been shot at by Chinese patrols and that this harassment of its fishermen is in violation of international law. Beijing maintains that it apprehends only those who have violated its sovereignty or lack the correct licence.
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