West Sea Coast Guard Cheong, Illegal Fishing Large Mesh Net Chinese Vessel Seized

Mokpo Coast Guard Patrol Vessel Tracks Outside Economic Zone Boundary

The West Sea Regional Coast Guard Agency (Chief Im Myeong-gil) announced on the 13th that at around 7:30 a.m. on the 12th, it seized one Chinese fishing vessel (260t) using a large-scale dragnet illegally fishing 107 km southwest of Gageodo for unauthorized fishing (violation of the Exclusive Economic Zone Fisheries Sovereignty Act).

A Chinese purse seine vessel engaged in illegal fishing was seized 107 km southwest of Gageodo Island.
[Photo by Seohae Coast Guard]

The large-scale dragnet, also known as a "sweep net," is a massive net approximately 250m long and 75m wide, with a mesh size of only 2 cm at the cod end, capturing even juvenile fish, making it illegal to fish within our Exclusive Economic Zone.

The West Sea Coast Guard conducted a "Maritime and Air Joint Operation Meeting" between the West Sea Coast Guard Aviation Unit and Mokpo Coast Guard large vessels to establish an enforcement operation plan targeting Chinese fishing vessels using large-scale dragnets that have been persistently conducting illegal fishing in our waters, and launched a joint crackdown.

On the day of the joint operation, a fixed-wing aircraft from Muan detected a Chinese fishing vessel illegally fishing 8.3 km inside our Exclusive Economic Zone, recorded footage of the illegal fishing, and provided the vessel’s location information to patrol ships.

Im Myeong-gil, Chief of the West Sea Regional Coast Guard Agency, stated, “To protect maritime sovereignty and fishery resources, we will thoroughly crack down on illegal fishing and continuously monitor the fishing activities of foreign vessels to implement strong measures to eradicate illegal fishing.”

Meanwhile, the Mokpo Coast Guard patrol vessels, having received the location information and evidence of illegal fishing of the Chinese fishing vessel using the large-scale dragnet, persistently tracked it beyond the outer boundary of our Exclusive Economic Zone, seized it, and are currently escorting it to the dedicated pier of the Mokpo Coast Guard.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.