The Fisheries Agency is asking the Japan Coast Guard to post armed officers on its patrol boats, to help deal with illegal operations by North Korean fishing vessels in and around the Yamatotai fishing grounds in the Sea of Japan, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
Authorized fisheries supervisors aboard the agency's patrol boats are not allowed to carry firearms, and the laws they can utilize, such as the Fisheries Law, are limited. The situation involving Yamatotai has been growing tense, and the agency wants to obtain cooperation from the JCG so it can conduct stable patrol activities.
Illegal operations by North Korean fishing vessels have been rampant in and around the Yamatotai grounds, which are located in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off Ishikawa Prefecture. Agency patrol boats have forced fishing vessels to leave the EEZ through such means as spraying water on them.
However, in August, an armed high-speed North Korean vessel approached and threatened a Fisheries Agency patrol boat. In October, a North Korean fishing boat collided with a patrol boat.
Authorized fisheries supervisors are not allowed to carry guns. The laws they can apply to clamp down on such illegal operations are limited to fisheries-related laws mainly intended to control poaching.
JCG officers can deal with all marine crimes, such as obstructing officers from performing their duties, while the agency's authorized fisheries supervisors can only take limited steps against illegal operators' resistance and threatening behaviors.
In addition, more than 80 percent of the agency's patrol boats are chartered from private companies, and many of the patrol boats' crew are civilians, such as employees of ship operating companies. For these reasons, the crew members have no authorization to search illegally operating vessels or arrest the people on them.
There are one or two authorized fisheries supervisors aboard each agency patrol boat. In the October incident in which a North Korean fishing vessel collided with the Okuni patrol boat, there was only one supervisor aboard.
According to sources, the agency is seeking to have JCG officers aboard chartered patrol boats as early as next fiscal year.
The JCG dispatches its own patrol vessels in and around Yamatotai. If the JCG accepts the agency's request, about 10 coast guard officers per boat will likely be needed for the agency's patrol boats. The JCG appears to remain cautious about the request.
A source close to the government said: "The JCG has nearly 400 patrol vessels of its own. There's no leeway for the JCG to transfer its personnel to the agency. It's also difficult to suddenly increase personnel. It's a big challenge to secure enough people."
According to the JCG, coast guard officers were aboard a Fisheries Agency-related vessel when a research whaling vessel faced obstructive behavior by the antiwhaling Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. However, there is no precedent for them being on a fisheries agency-related vessel to control illegal fishing operations.
Yoshihiko Yamada, a professor of marine security at Tokai University, said: "[Coast guard officers aboard Fisheries Agency patrol boats] would make it possible for the agency to carry out the same level of patrol activities as the JCG, and that would probably help contain illegal fishing operations.
"But the JCG is in short of personnel. In the future, a system in which the JCG takes the initiative in restraining such illegal acts should be established and strengthened."
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