DFA: Filipino fishermen can venture into West PH Sea despite China fisheries law

DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – It will be business as usual in the West Philippines Sea for Filipino fisherman despite the recently imposed fisheries law of China’s southern province of Hainan.

“Business as usual,” Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez said during press conference Monday when he was asked if Filipino fishermen could still go to the area.

“But our fishermen would always have to coordinate with local authorities in the area so that Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) officials would know where they are and if they would need help we could always immediately come to their aid,” he said.

Hainan Provincial People’s Congress passed in late November 2013 a law requiring foreign fishing vessels to first seek permission from Chinese regional authorities before conducting fishing or surveying activities in their waters.

The law became effective on January 1, 2014.

China claims the entire South China Sea under its nine-dash line claim including parts of the Philippines 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

The DFA previously asked China to clarify the new law saying, “These regulations seriously violate the freedom of navigation and the right to fish of all states in the high seas, as provided for under UNCLOS. Under customary international law, no state can subject the high seas to its sovereignty.”

The West Philippine Sea is the subject of an arbitration case between China and the Philippines in the United Nations (UN) arbitral tribunal. China has refused to participate in the proceedings and the Philippines is set to submit its written arguments on March 30, 2014.

Hernandez said that it was not stopping Filipino fishermen from going out to fish despite Hainan’s new law.

“We are not preventing them,” he said. “We have BFAR all over the place and fishing rules and activities are being monitored.”

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