Chinese fishing boats the South Korean Coast Guard has caught for loosely keeping their fishing logs while operating in Korean waters have been released after paying tens of millions of won.
According to the Jeju Coast Guard, on the 15th, Chinese twin net fishing boats A (97 tons, 8 crew members) and B (97 tons, 8 crew members) were caught by the Coast Guard on the 13th for suspicion of falsely or lazily recording their fishing logs (violation of the Economic Fishing Zone Sovereignty Act).
The Coast Guard discovered these fishing boats while inspecting the sea about 71 miles northwest of Chagwido Island at around 7:17 am on the 13th and confirmed their illegal activities.
The first boat entered the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and fished four times, but it was only recorded three times in the fishing log, with the fishing location and time arbitrarily written.
The second boat also recorded a catch of 1031 pounds about 10 hours after finishing fishing. According to current law, the fishing log should be written within 2 hours after fishing is complete.
Both boats were released on the 14th after each paying a bail of $26,000.
A Coast Guard official said, “We will strengthen the crackdown not only on unlicensed fishing boats but also on violations of restrictions on licensed fishing boats to protect our fishery resources and establish order in fishing.”