Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/22
By: Emerson Lim and S.C. Chang

Manila, June 22 (CNA) The Philippines is acquiring nearly 100 patrol boats to step up crackdowns on what fishery officials describe as “poachers from Taiwan and China,” local media quoted the Fisheries Development Authority as saying Monday.

The media quoted Asis Perez, the country’s top fisheries official, as saying his government has ordered over 70 short-range and nearly 30 mid- and long-range patrol vessels, which will be delivered by the end of the year.

The Philippines currently has only 20 patrol boats to patrol its 36,000 kilometers of coastline.

During the past two months, Taiwanese fishing boats have entered the Philippines’ “law enforcement” waters in the northern part of the country at least five times.     [FULL  STORY]