MOF to Crack Down Strongly on Illegal Fishing by Chinese Fishing Vessels in Preparation for Spring Peak Season

Joint crackdown with national fisheries patrol vessels from the West Sea Fisheries Management Service and South Sea Fisheries Management Service

 The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF; Minister Kang Do-hyung) announced that it will crack down on illegal fishing by Chinese fishing vessels in the southern part of the West Sea and waters near Jeju Island from Thursday, April 3 to Tuesday, April 15.

 This special crackdown is carried out to establish fishing order preemptively in preparation for indiscriminate fishing by Chinese fishing boats in Korea’s waters ahead of the spring peak fishing season and China’s summer fishing off-season (May 1 to September 16).

 In particular, MOF plans to focus on inspecting and cracking down on recently increasing illegal activities such as concealment of catches using secret fish holds, false reporting or underreporting, violation of fishing net regulations, and forgery/alteration of the Automatic Identification System (AIS). Moreover, to protect fishery resources in Korean waters, the Ministry plans to monitor and detect illegal fishing gear installed by Chinese fishing vessels without permission.

 “To rectify the order of the intermediate fishing industry, we will do our best to protect the fishery resources of Korea’s seas by resolutely responding to illegal fishing by Chinese fishing vessels and forcibly removing illegal fishing gear using fishing boats,” Minister Kang Do-hyung said.