TOKYO - The Japanese coast guard says its patrol boats have been pushing back hundreds of North Korean boats trying to poach in fishing grounds rich with squid off Japan’s northern coast.

Coast Guard officials said Tuesday they have forced more than 300 North Korean boats out of Japan’s exclusive economic zone near Yamatotai since May. </s> The Japanese coast guard says its patrol boats have been pushing back hundreds of North Korean boats trying to poach in fishing grounds rich with squid off Japan's northern coast.

Coast Guard officials said Tuesday they have forced more than 300 North Korean boats out of Japan's exclusive economic zone near Yamatotai since May.

The patrol boats used water cannons on 50 North Korean boats that ignored warnings.

Coast Guard footage obtained Tuesday showed North Korean crewmen on a wooden boat abandon a fishing rope after being sprayed water.

Japanese authorities have stepped up patrols in the area as North Korean poaching has surged in recent years.

Experts say Pyongyang's campaign to boost fish harvests has increased poaching by North Korean boats. </s> TOKYO (AP) - The Japanese coast guard says its patrol boats have been pushing back hundreds of North Korean boats trying to poach in fishing grounds rich with squid off Japan's northern coast.

Coast Guard officials said Tuesday they have forced more than 300 North Korean boats out of Japan's exclusive economic zone near Yamatotai since May.

The patrol boats used water cannons on 50 North Korean boats that ignored warnings.

Coast Guard footage obtained Tuesday showed North Korean crewmen on a wooden boat abandon a fishing rope after being sprayed water.

Japanese authorities have stepped up patrols in the area as North Korean poaching has surged in recent years.

Experts say Pyongyang's campaign to boost fish harvests has increased poaching by North Korean boats.

In this late May, 2019, image from video provided by Japan Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard patrol boat sprays water to a North Korean fishing boat after the fishing boat didn't ignore the warning to evacuate in the waters near Yamatotai, Japan. Japanese Coast Guard says its patrol boats have been pushing back hundreds of North Korean poachers swarming toward fishing grounds off Japan's northern coast.(Japan Coast Guard via AP)

In this late May, 2019, photo provided by Japan Coast Guard, Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel approaches a North Korean fishing boat to warn them to leave the waters near Yamatotai, Japan. Coast Guard officials said Tuesday, June 18, they have forced more than 300 North Korean poachers out of Japan's exclusive economic zone since May near Yamatotai rich with squid. (Japan Coast Guard via AP)

This late May, 2019, photo provided by Japan Coast Guard shows two North Korean fishing boats leaving the waters near Yamatotai, Japan. Coast Guard officials said Tuesday, June 18, they have forced more than 300 North Korean poachers out of Japan's exclusive economic zone since May near Yamatotai rich with squid. (Japan Coast Guard via AP) </s> The Japanese coast guard said Tuesday its patrol boats have been pushing back hundreds of North Korean boats trying to poach in fishing grounds rich with squid off Japan's northern coast.

More than 300 North Korean boats have been forced out of Japan's exclusive economic zone near Yamatotai since May, the coast guard said in a statement.

The Japanese patrol boats also used water cannons on 50 North Korean boats that ignored warnings.

Coast guard footage showed North Korean crewmen on a wooden boat abandon a fishing rope after being sprayed water.

Japanese authorities have stepped up patrols in the area as North Korean poaching has surged in recent years.

Experts say the growing number of poachers may be related Pyongyang's campaign to boost fish harvests to obtain dietary protein as the nation struggles to achieve food self-sufficiency and to overcome health problems caused by poor diets. To reach their quotas, fishermen from the North may be taking more risks and venturing farther from their usual waters, often violating Japan's 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, experts say.

Fisheries officials have said they believe that scores of dilapidated wooden boats that have washed ashore in northern Japan in a seasonal influx in recent years could be part of those poachers that fail to return home due to accidents or bad weather.

A record 225 of the so-called "ghost boats" washed up on northern Japanese coasts last year, more than twice the number recorded in the previous year, according to the coast guard.

© Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> The Japanese coast guard revealed on Tuesday they have pushed out over 300 North Korean fishing boats attempting to poach squid from within their territorial waters.

Coast guard officials said in a statement that as many as 300 North Korean vessels have been identified and pushed out from within Japanese fishing waters since May. In around 50 cases, Japanese patrol boats deployed water cannons against boats that ignored warnings.

All the reported incidents took place within the 200-square mile Yamatotai fishing region off of Japan’s northern coast, famous for its rich squid population that drives Japan’s fishing industry.

Coast guard officials confirmed that another 225 abandoned North Korean vessels had washed ashore onto Japanese beaches last year, likely a result of accidents or bad weather.

The Japanese coast guard has been forced to increase the number of territorial water patrols in recent years amid a surge in North Korean poaching. Experts believe the surge in poaching is likely an effort by Pyongyang to boost their food harvests to help feed a population that remains chronically malnourished.

A United Nations report released last month warned that North Korea’s economy remained in dire shape as a result of crippling U.S.-led sanctions, leaving citizens to bribe regime officials in order to access basic living essentials. The communist regime strictly regulates the food supply to ensure that those highest in the nation’s songbun caste system do not experience declines in their quality of life, at the expense of everyone else in the country.

“The rights to food, health, shelter, work, freedom of movement and liberty are universal and inalienable, but in North Korea, they depend primarily on the ability of individuals to bribe State officials,” said Michelle Bachelet, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, in her report.

A recent joint report by the U.N. and the World Food Program found that the communist state had been forced to cut food rations after experiencing its worst harvest in ten years.

“This new food security assessment…has found that following the worst harvest in 10 years, due to dry spells, heat waves and flooding, 10.1 million people suffer from severe food insecurity, meaning they do not have enough food till the next harvest,” said WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel.

Both reports were angrily rejected by Pyongyang, who described them as “politically motivated for sinister purposes”.

“Such reports are nothing more than fabrication … as they are always based on the so-called testimonies of ‘defectors’ who provide fabricated information to earn their living or are compelled to do so under duress or enticement,” North Korean officials said in a statement.

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com </s> MOSCOW — Russia says one North Korean fisherman was killed and eight others injured when Russian border guards opened fire on a fishing trawler.

The Federal Security Service, which includes coastal and border guards, says the clash took place Saturday after the trawler Dae Yong No. 10 entered Russian waters in the Sea of Japan.

The security service, known by its acronym FSB, said in a statement that border guards detained the boat and found "illegally obtained aquatic bio-resources."

The statement says the ship then attempted to flee while its crewmembers tried to wrest weapons from the Russian guards. A Russian coast guard ship fired at the trawler's propulsion system, disabling it, and on the North Korean crewmen, the statement said. </s> HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's foreign minister has asked his Indonesian counterpart to investigate and clarify reports that the Indonesian navy shot and wounded two Vietnamese fishermen in the South China Sea, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

Pham Binh Minh told Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi by telephone that the reported incident was "very serious ... and not appropriate with the strategic partnership relationship between Vietnam and Indonesia," the Vietnamese foreign ministry said in a statement.

 "Vietnam is deeply concerned about this incident and proposes Indonesia to quickly investigate and clarify the incident and inform Vietnam of the results and to stop repeating similar acts," Minh was quoting as saying.

 Earlier this week, a local Vietnamese sea rescue committee said Indonesia's navy had shot and wounded Vietnamese fishermen aboard a fishing boat in the South China Sea last weekend.

 The Vietnamese boat was about 132 nautical miles (245 km) southeast of Vietnam's Con Dao island when the fishermen were shot on Saturday night, the Binh Dinh provincial search and rescue committee said on its website.

 The report was pulled off the website the next day. 

 The Indonesian navy has yet to comment on the incident.

 Disputes over fishing rights and oil drilling have stoked tension in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in goods is shipped each year.

 China claims almost the entire sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims.

 Although Indonesia says it is not a party to the dispute, it recently renamed the northern reaches of its exclusive economic zone, asserting its own maritime claim.

 The coordinates given by the Vietnamese search and rescue committee indicated that the shooting happened close to the area Indonesia now calls the North Natuna Sea.

 Indonesia has sunk hundreds of mostly foreign boats caught illegally fishing in its waters since President Joko Widodo launched a crackdown on the poaching of fish in 2014.

 Indonesia and Vietnam said in May they would launch a joint investigation after reports that Vietnamese coast guards had tried to forcibly free five fishing boats and their crew detained in waters near Indonesia's Natuna Islands.

 

 (Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Additional reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe in Jakarta; Editing by Catherine Evans) </s> JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s navy has seized a fishing boat carrying 20 crewmembers, including 14 Indonesians believed to be trafficking victims who were forced to work for years without pay, officials said Monday.

Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said a navy ship intercepted the STS-50 about 60 miles (95 kilometres) from Weh Island in Aceh province last Friday, a day after a tip from Interpol saying the vessel was heading to Indonesian waters.

Pudjiastuti said the boat was carrying six Russians, including the captain, and 14 Indonesians.

“The STS-50 has allegedly committed an organized transnational crime,” Pudjiastuti said.

She said the boat is believed to have falsified its identity many times and used the flags of eight different countries, including Japan, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Micronesia, to facilitate illegal fishing in the waters of many nations.

The boat had earlier been seized by China but managed to escape, and was later captured in Mozambique’s Port of Maputo before fleeing again, Pudjiastuti said.

Indonesian navy deputy chief Achmad Taufiqoerrochman said there are strong indications that the Indonesians on board are victims of trafficking who were forced to work at sea for years without pay.

“Suspicions of trafficking arose when we caught it without valid documents,” Taufiqoerrochman said. “We are still investigating this case comprehensively.”

He said the boat was equipped with 600 sets of gill nets, each about 50 metres (55 yards) long, that can sweep up to 30 square kilometres (12 square miles) of ocean. </s> JAKARTA (REUTERS) - Indonesia, acting on a request from Interpol, has seized a fishing boat carrying 600 illegal gillnets that can stretch up to 30km after it evaded capture in several countries, the Fisheries Ministry said.

The vessel, the STS-50, had targeted Antarctic toothfish, the ministry said, a cod species that plays an important role in the Southern Ocean ecosystem.

Gillnetting, which uses walls of finely meshed nets, has been banned in Antarctic waters since 2006 and is described by Australia as posing a huge risk to "almost all marine life".

Officially stateless, the STS-50 evaded the authorities by flying eight different flags at different times, including those of Sierra Leone, Togo, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, Micronesia and Namibia, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday (April 8).

Interpol contacted Indonesia last week with a request to investigate the vessel, Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said in the statement.

"Navy ship Simeuleu conducted a 'stop, investigate and detain' operation on Friday and successfully seized the vessel," she said.

The vessel had earlier been detained by China but had escaped and was later detained in the port of Maputo in Mozambique before fleeing again, Ms Susi said.

Prior to its capture off the Indonesian island of Weh in the north-western province of Aceh, the vessel had also operated under several other names including Sea Breeze, Andrey Dolgov, STD No. 2 and Aida, the statement said.

Shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon shows the 54m, 452-tonne vessel was built in 1985.

At the time of its capture, the STS-50 had 20 Indonesian and Russian crew, the statement said.

It was not immediately clear what would happen to the crew.

Navy deputy chief of staff Achmad Taufiqoerrochman was quoted in the statement as saying the Indonesian crew lacked travel documents and had been at sea for a long time without pay, indicating they may have been victims of trafficking.

Fishing for Antarctic toothfish is governed under the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which forbids gillnet fishing and imposes strict rules on catches in the Southern Ocean.

"We want this to be an example for the world to not compromise with illegal fishing," Ms Susi said.

Indonesia has destroyed hundreds of foreign illegal fishing boats since 2014 in an effort to protect domestic fish stocks and fishermen.

In 2016, Indonesia assisted Interpol in the landmark capture of a giant Chinese-flagged vessel that had evaded Argentina's navy and fled into international waters after it was suspected of illegal fishing there.

The same year, Indonesia blew up a giant illegal toothfish fishing vessel that had operated under 12 different names and flown flags of at least eight different countries.
The Japanese coast guard says its patrol boats have been pushing back hundreds of North Korean boats trying to poach in fishing grounds rich with squid off Japan's northern coast.