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Screengrab from Philippine Coast Guard's video
MANILA — The Philippine Coast Guard on Monday said the identity of a fishing vessel involved in suspected dynamite fishing in waters off Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island on Sunday was never confirmed after it was "assisted" by the China Coast Guard and proceeded toward China-held Zamora Reef, also known as Subi Reef.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila earlier denied that the fishing vessel was Chinese, saying Beijing also opposes and cracks down on destructive fishing.
The suspected blast fishing occurred about three nautical miles west of Pag-asa Island, which falls within the Philippines' territorial sea.
PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Adm. Jay Tarriela said Philippine law enforcers could have apprehended and boarded the vessel and confiscated the explosives under local fisheries laws, but they were unable to do so after two CCG ships arrived, accompanied by a Chinese navy helicopter that "circled" over the Filipino team four times.
One of the Chinese ships "shadowed and blocked the Philippine boats," at one point coming within 10 yards (9.1 meters) of one of them, Tarriela reported.
"The mere fact that it was assisted by the People's Republic of China and accordingly went to the location of Subi Reef, we can just assume what the flag of the fishing vessel is," Tarriela said. "That makes it very ironic."
"Kung ang China talaga ay concerned sa pagpoprotekta ng environment and even holding those accountable ng blast fishing, eh 'di sana binoard din nila ito, not the opposite kung saan hinarang nila tayo preventing us from boarding the vessel," Tarriela said.
(If China is really concerned about protecting the environment and holding those responsible for blast fishing accountable, then they should have boarded the vessel as well, not done the opposite by blocking us and preventing us from boarding the vessel.)
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Beijing claims most of the South China Sea despite an international ruling that its sweeping claims have no legal basis.
The National Maritime Council said it is seriously looking into the incident as the government continues to document incidents for appropriate legal and diplomatic action.
"Gusto nating maging responsable sa ating assessment kaya facts muna tayo, 'yong kung ano talaga ang nangyari. Tinitingnan natin ang official reports, video na meron tayo, communications, at iba pang available evidence para malinaw kung ano talaga ang nangyari," NMC spokesperson Undersecretary Alexander Lopez told government television in a telephone interview.
(We want to be responsible in our assessment, so let's focus on the facts first on what really happened. We are looking at the official reports, the videos that we have, the communications, and other available evidence to establish clearly what really happened.)
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