In May, there were 15 incidents in which tuna fishing boats’ longlines were severed in waters in Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures, possibly by Japanese or U.S. ships tracing suspected intrusions by Chinese submarines, it has been learned.
After admitting that one of its vessels might have been involved in some of the incidents, the Maritime Self-Defense Force has been negotiating with a local fisheries cooperative federation about compensation for the damage.
It is highly possible that U.S. military or MSDF ships accidentally cut the fishing lines set by tuna fishermen while tracing submarines assumed to belong to the Chinese Navy.
As 10 months have passed since the Japanese government purchased several of the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, Chinese vessels have been actively conducting activities in the sea near the islands, raising concern among the Japanese fishermen about their operations.
On the evening on May 12, Fukio Kizu, a 58-year-old tuna fisherman from Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, was taking in his longline west of Kumejima island in Okinawa Prefecture. He could not believe his eyes when he saw the severed section of the main line of his longline. The line was cut sharply and had black oil adhering to it. He had never seen a line severed in such a way.
Longline fishing uses a long fishing line, called the main line, with many baited hooks attached at intervals by means of branch lines called snells. The main line may be 10 to 100 kilometers long.
The area near Kumejima is a good fishing zone for bluefin tuna and other fish. From April to July, numerous small fishing boats with longlines from Miyazaki Prefecture and other prefectures crowd the area.
Longlines have been known to be cut by tankers or pulled apart by adverse currents, but fishermen echoed the same opinion that such cases are extremely rare.
Nine cases were confirmed on May 12 and six other cases on May 16 in the same area of the sea. Kizu suffered about 100,000 yen in financial damage.
Several fishermen have said that on the morning on May 12, they saw a U.S. research vessel passing over the longlines. Kizu said, I suspect that warship cut my line.
On May 12, the MSDF’s P-3C patrol aircraft detected a submarine, which was presumed to belong to the Chinese Navy, approaching Kumejima underwater in the contiguous zone, an area extending about 22 kilometers outside Japan’s territorial waters.
The presence of submarines thought to be Chinese was also confirmed on May 2 near Amami-Oshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture, and on May 19 near Minami-Daitojima island in Okinawa Prefecture.
A senior Defense Ministry official said: Intrusion into another country’s territorial waters while navigating underwater is a serious hostile action. To respond to such an incident, we were prepared to issue a maritime patrol operations order to the Self-Defense Forces.
The MSDF dispatched its vessels, including the ocean surveillance ship Hibiki, to nearby seas to search for the sound of submarine screws and other audio data with sonar towed underwater.
The U.S. military also dispatched a research vessel with similar equipment.
It is thought that the towed sonar or other devices of the ships might have cut the longlines while they were chasing the submarines.
In fact, parts of longlines were found entangled with the Hibiki’s sonar. The MSDF is negotiating with Miyazaki Prefecture’s federation of fisheries cooperatives over the compensation.
The federation also demanded that U.S. forces provide confirmation of facts via the Fisheries Agency.
U.S. forces have not responded to The Yomiuri Shimbun’s request for an interview.
Chinese Navy vessels began to pass through the seas near Okinawa Prefecture around 2008 and have made drills in the Pacific Ocean a regular activity.
In January this year, there was an incident in which a Chinese warship locked weapon-targeting radar on an MSDF destroyer.
This month, it was confirmed that Chinese marine research vessels cruised within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, including one location near Okinotorishima island, which is administratively part of Tokyo.
Chinese vessels have continued to actively conduct activities in a wide range of sea areas near Japan.
An official of the Miyazaki prefectural federation of fisheries cooperatives said, If there are Chinese vessels here, we can’t go about our work with peace of mind. Thus, the MSDF aims to continue patrol and surveillance.
The Yomiuri Shimbun