Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-12
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The treasury raked in NT$4.3 million (US$132,000) in fines leveled against Chinese fishermen last month, media reports said Saturday.

The Coast Guard has faced recurrent problems with trawlers from China fishing within Taiwanese territorial waters, but due to the short distances separating offshore islands like Kinmen from the coast of China, it has sometimes been difficult to catch the perpetrators.

New laws and regulations allow the authorities to level fines on the captains of Chinese and other foreign vessels fishing illegally in Taiwanese waters.

In the latest incident, the Chinese-registered Minlongyu 66820 was apprehended 19 nautical miles from the tiny island of Mutou around 6 a.m. Saturday, reports said. The ship had only been taken into service last August 1, according to the Chinese-language Apple Daily.     [FULL  STORY]