20 mainland fishermen detained in Taiwan

A total of 20 fishermen from the Chinese mainland have been detained by the Taiwan regional authorities on suspicion of illegal fishing near the Dongsha Islands, Taiwan’s coastguard said Friday.

The vessel’s captain and 19 crew members are currently being held on their boat and are awaiting a decision from the local prosecutor’s office, a media official surnamed Liao from Kaohsiung’s Fifth Offshore Flotilla – a local body that enforces maritime law as part of its duties – told the Global Times on Friday.

The captain has admitted that the crew fished for three days in an area less than 24 nautical miles from the Dongsha Islands and had planned to stay there for two weeks, the Taiwan-based Central News Agency (CAN) quoted prosecutors as saying.

The fishermen were caught as part of a campaign to protect the local ecology, said CAN.

According to Liao, the fishermen all come from the Chinese mainland and the boat is registered in Hong Kong.

When the boat was seized Tuesday, it was already carrying about 350 kilograms of live fish, including parrot fish and sand snappers, CAN reported.

This is not the first time that mainlanders have been detained by Taiwan’s regional authorities for fishing around Dongsha, and normally they are released after paying a fine, said Liao.

Though the Dongsha Islands are officially under the jurisdiction of the city of Lufeng, South China’s Guangdong Province, they are administrated by Kaohsiung.