By Ben Bland in Ly Son island
Published: June 20 2011 17:01 | Last updated: June 20 2011 17:01
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.
This is one of several long-running disputes over fishing grounds in Asia, where freewheeling fishermen with large investments to recoup do not always respect the “exclusive economic zones” laid down in international maritime law.
Relations between China and Vietnam, which purport to be “good friends, good neighbours, good comrades”, have sunk to their lowest level in recent times following allegations by Vietnam that China has been sabotaging its oil exploration vessels, sparking rare anti-China protests on the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The disputes in the South China Sea – parts or all of which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan – may be driven by a variety of factors, including a general disagreement over boundaries and the need to maintain access to commercial sea lanes. Some also believe that the contested Spratly and Paracel islands sit on vast oil and gas reserves, a claim yet unproven.
But one big source of tension is the area’s status as one of the world’s best sources of another key natural resource: fish.
About 10 per cent of the global supply of fish comes from these waters, according to the UN Environment Programme, while as many as 1.9m boats regularly fish there, according to Simon Funge-Smith, senior fishery officer at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation in Bangkok.
While China is the world’s biggest consumer and exporter of fish, the Vietnamese economy is far more reliant on the industry as a source of revenue. Seafood was the country’s second biggest foreign exchange earner last year, accounting for
7 per cent of its $71.6bn of exports.
Despite the risks posed by Chinese patrols – not to mention the challenge of sailing the often stormy seas – Mr Hien and his fellow captain, Le Tan, who had his $20,000 boat seized in 2006, have good reasons to keep fishing.
They can make decent profits when they bring in good catches of popular export fish such as tuna, grouper and snapper, and they lack options in an area where agriculture is already at full capacity.
There is another crucial factor. 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.
If Vietnam acquiesces in the face of Chinese claims, it will be “considered as implicitly recognising China’s sovereignty in the disputed areas”, Nguyen Dang Thang, a Vietnamese expert in maritime law, wrote in a recent paper for Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
Vietnam, like other countries, has provided fuel subsidies to offshore vessels, as well as soft loans and other financial support to boat owners who upgrade their engines. The agriculture ministry is also working on a programme to equip 3,000 of Vietnam’s offshore fishing boats with a satellite positioning system.
Some analysts have even suggested that the government might be providing direct financial incentives to fishermen who venture into the areas where they are most at risk of being detained by Chinese patrols. Fishermen and local government officials deny that claim.
Mr Hien says: “Our life is very difficult and we wish we had more help from the government.”
“China will keep catching fishermen until it runs out of money, which is never.”
Relations between China and Vietnam, which purport to be “good friends, good neighbours, good comrades”, have sunk to their lowest level in recent times following allegations by Vietnam that China has been sabotaging its oil exploration vessels, sparking rare anti-China protests on the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The disputes in the South China Sea – parts or all of which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan – may be driven by a variety of factors, including a general disagreement over boundaries and the need to maintain access to commercial sea lanes. Some also believe that the contested Spratly and Paracel islands sit on vast oil and gas reserves, a claim yet unproven.
But one big source of tension is the area’s status as one of the world’s best sources of another key natural resource: fish.
About 10 per cent of the global supply of fish comes from these waters, according to the UN Environment Programme, while as many as 1.9m boats regularly fish there, according to Simon Funge-Smith, senior fishery officer at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation in Bangkok.
While China is the world’s biggest consumer and exporter of fish, the Vietnamese economy is far more reliant on the industry as a source of revenue. Seafood was the country’s second biggest foreign exchange earner last year, accounting for
7 per cent of its $71.6bn of exports.
Despite the risks posed by Chinese patrols – not to mention the challenge of sailing the often stormy seas – Mr Hien and his fellow captain, Le Tan, who had his $20,000 boat seized in 2006, have good reasons to keep fishing.
They can make decent profits when they bring in good catches of popular export fish such as tuna, grouper and snapper, and they lack options in an area where agriculture is already at full capacity.
There is another crucial factor. 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.
If Vietnam acquiesces in the face of Chinese claims, it will be “considered as implicitly recognising China’s sovereignty in the disputed areas”, Nguyen Dang Thang, a Vietnamese expert in maritime law, wrote in a recent paper for Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
Vietnam, like other countries, has provided fuel subsidies to offshore vessels, as well as soft loans and other financial support to boat owners who upgrade their engines. The agriculture ministry is also working on a programme to equip 3,000 of Vietnam’s offshore fishing boats with a satellite positioning system.
Some analysts have even suggested that the government might be providing direct financial incentives to fishermen who venture into the areas where they are most at risk of being detained by Chinese patrols. Fishermen and local government officials deny that claim.
Mr Hien says: “Our life is very difficult and we wish we had more help from the government.”
“China will keep catching fishermen until it runs out of money, which is never.”
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