South Korea Installs Artificial Reef to Stop Illegal Chinese Fishing Boats
This is actually a pretty good idea which also makes me wonder if it can also help deter North Korean submarine activity as well in the area?:
North Korea on Monday condemned the artificial reef structures being placed in the West Sea by South Korea to control Chinese illegal fishing activities, calling it part of Seoul’s military provocations against Pyongyang’s maritime demarcation line.
In March, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) said it will set up a total of eight artificial reef structures in the eastern waters off Baengnyeongdo, Daecheongdo and Socheongdo, all located south of the northern limit line (NLL), to prevent Chinese fishing vessels from intruding into the South Korean waters.
Drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, the NLL is the de facto sea border between the two Koreas, although the North has not recognized it as such.
According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the West Sea Fleet of the Navy of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) said South Korea’s new artificial structures can only be seen a encroachments on its waters.
“The fish-breeding reef, structure weighing dozens of tons, is being set up in the sensitive waters which witnessed three skirmishes in the past, a fact clearly showing the provocative nature,” KCNA said.
Such provocative acts have revealed Seoul’s “sinister intention” to spark a military conflict in the world’s most dangerous waters, the North’s state-run media outlet claimed. [Yonhap]
Hmm… I wonder if the North will try to mine these…
It would be something they would do, but these artificial reefs will increase the fish population in that area both north and south of the NLL. That would be good for all three groups of fishermen: North, South and Chinese.
Fatty Kim IS the type to cut off his nose to spite his face.
But for now, I’ll wait for the inevitable “North Korean Submarine gets stuck on South Korean Artificial Reef” Headlines.
Nice move on the RoK’s part. Maybe if they have some of those left over they can use them to keep foreigners off the beaches at Boryeong. 😛
An important point missing in the article is that the Chinese use dragnets to do bottom trawling – a method that is highly effective, but it tears up the sea beds that provide habitat for juvenile fish and other species. Korean fishing boats are more vested in protecting and keeping their fishing territories productive, so they don’t employ this method. These artificial reefs won’t stop the Chinese from fishing around the northwest islands, but they will stop them from bottom trawling. And if they can’t bottom trawl, they might decide it’s not worth it to fish there.
Unless the North Koreans are complete idiots (rhetorical?), they also know that these artificial reefs will benefit them also.
@Guitard, the Chinese bottom trawling fishing is also what they are doing in the South China Sea and destroying reefs there. IMO Sea Shepherd should be taking on these illegal Chinese fishermen around the world instead of harassing Japanese whalers.
Sea Shepard? Is that still a thing? If it is I wouldn’t expect them to even consider getting involved, one thing to mess around out in the middle of no where with Japanese fishermen, quite a different scene to go poking beehives in the China/DPRK/RoK wrestling ring. Captain Paul doesn’t want to lose his ship. 😉
There is no way Sea Shepherd should get involved with what is going on in the NLL. But there are other places in the world where the Chinese fishermen are trawling which they could bring attention to instead of harassing Japanese whalers who are hunting non-endangered whales.