Fishing area boundaries not part of Taiwan-Japan fishery talks
ROC Central News Agency
2016/03/04 23:36:18
Taipei, March 4 (CNA) Taiwan and Japan agreed at a meeting on Friday to maintain existing fishing rules in waters north of the Yaeyama Islands and did not touch on curtailing access to Taiwanese fishermen to waters near the disputed Diaoyutai Islands, a Taiwanese official said.
Though each side suggested possible changes to regulations established by a Taiwan-Japan fishing committee last year, the two sides decided to keep the guidelines unchanged, according to Fisheries Agency chief Tsay Tzu-yaw (蔡日耀) at a news conference shortly after the meeting concluded.
The meeting, the fifth held by the committee, came in the wake of reports in February that Japanese fishermen were pressuring their government to revise the terms of a Taiwan-Japan fishery agreement signed in 2013.
The fishermen were hoping to have Taiwanese fishing boats excluded from part of the area near the Diaoyutais, where they are currently allowed to operate under the 2013 accord.
But asked whether the issue was raised during the meeting, Tsay said it did not come up.
What was discussed may have been reflected in the two sides' agreement to hold two special meetings prior to the next round of formal talks on problems related to fishing in waters north of the Yaeyama Islands and how fishing nets in the area should be handled.
The Yaeyama Islands are about 140 kilometers south of the Diaoyutais off Taiwan's east coast.
During the committee's previous meeting in March 2015, the two sides agreed to allow Taiwanese and Japanese fishing boats to take turns operating in those waters and maintain a four-nautical mile distance between each boat while fishing there.
Another regulation allowed Taiwanese fishermen to deploy their lines in an east-west direction while operating in another zone at night.
The amendments were aimed at avoiding friction between Taiwanese and Japanese fishing boats caused by their different operating methods. Japanese boats set their lines in a north-south direction, a Taiwanese official said last year.
It was not clear what specific guidelines were debated at the meeting.
Commenting on the encounter, Chen Chun-sheng (陳春生), head of the Su'ao Fishermen Association in Yilan County, said the results 'were not satisfying but were acceptable.'
Fishermen of the two countries will need more time to iron out their differences, he said, without elaborating on what those differences were.
About 70 people from the two countries participated in the meeting that included officials from their respective fishery and coast guard agencies, as well as members of fishermen's associations.
Tsai Ming-yaw (蔡明耀), secretary-general of the Association of East Asian Relations, which is in charge of ties with Japan in the absence of formal diplomatic relations, headed the Taiwanese delegation to the meeting.
Takashi Hamada, secretary-general of the Taipei Office of Japan's Interchange Association, led the Japanese delegation.
The Taiwan-Japan fishing committee was established as part of the 2013 agreement on fishing rights in the East China Sea near the disputed Diaoyutai Islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan.
Under the terms of the agreement, Taiwanese and Japanese boats can operate freely in a 74,300-square-kilometer area around the uninhabited islets, Taiwan's Fisheries Agency said.
The Diaoyutais, some 100 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan, have been under Japan's administrative control since 1972 but are also claimed by Taiwan and China.
(By Tang Pei-chun and Elaine Hou)
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