Duterte to Ban Fishing in Chinese-controlled Lagoon
Local Editor
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte decided to declare a lagoon in China-controlled waters to be a marine sanctuary where Filipinos and Chinese will be prohibited from fishing, officials said Monday.
China seized the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 after a tense standoff with the Philippines.
Duterte's plan is delicate because it may imply Philippine territorial control there. Chinese coast guard ships have closely guarded the shoal since then, and both governments have suspected the other of planning construction to cement their claims to the area.
If Duterte's plan proceeds, fishermen of any nationality would only be allowed in the deeper waters just outside Scarborough, but not its vast triangular-shaped lagoon naturally fenced by coral outcrops with an entryway watched by Chinese coast guard personnel.
Duterte relayed his marine sanctuary plan to Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the just-concluded Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said.
Xi did not say whether he agreed to Duterte's plan in the Scarborough Shoal, according to the statement from Esperon and other Philippine Cabinet officials present at the meeting.
"It is our position not to have fishing activities inside the triangle," Esperon said of Scarborough's shallow lagoon. "The president has decided to declare that as a sanctuary. That is a unilateral action from government."
China, Esperon said, also prohibits fishing inside the shoal's lagoon.
"If they don't want to allow fishing there, we don't want to allow fishing there either," Esperon said of the countries' similar but separate regulations in the disputed area.
The Philippine government is considering declaring other disputed South China Sea areas as government-protected marine sanctuaries, according to Esperon.
After taking control of Scarborough, which lies about 228 kilometers off the northwestern Philippines, Chinese coast guard personnel shooed away Filipino fishermen, at times with the use of water cannons or by deploying armed personnel on speed boats to chase them off.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
