Japan Seizes Chinese Fishing Boat for Trying to Evade Inspection

Fukuoka, Feb. 13 (Jiji Press)--Japan has seized a Chinese fishing vessel and arrested its 47-year-old Chinese captain after the boat allegedly tried to flee an inspection in the Japanese exclusive economic zone off an island in Nagasaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

It was the first time since 2022 for Japanese authorities to capture a Chinese vessel.

According to Japan’s Fisheries Agency, the vessel is suspected of failing to comply with an order to stop for onboard inspection issued by a fisheries patrol vessel of the agency and fleeing instead, in a sea area about 170 kilometers southwest of the Nagasaki island of Meshima on Thursday.

The agency’s Kyushu Fisheries Coordination Office said that the captain and 10 others were on the vessel at the time.

The agency believes that the vessel may have operated in the area illegally.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]