lastlid
29th July 2012, 09:26
Daylight Robbery
"Puerto Princesa (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Under the protective watch of warships, Chinese fishing vessels anchored off the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island in the disputed Spratly archipelago in the West Philippine Sea operated at will yesterday, catching fish but mainly collecting corals in large quantities.
The fishing boats were only 9 kilometres from Pag-asa, that municipal employees on the island could clearly see them using winches and booms to haul corals from the seabed to wooden "sampans" (junks), said Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon of Kalayaan, which governs Pag-asa and four other islets in the Spratlys claimed by the Philippines.
"Our people, the civilian staff of the municipality of Kalayaan, wanted to stop them yesterday," Bito-onon said. "I had to ask them to stand down and just monitor the developments for now."
The mayor said his staff observed the Chinese fishermen rigging steel cables to large coral heads to pull them up using winches. The rocks were then hauled into larger ships using booms."
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/chinese-boats-catch-fish-corals-off-philippine-island-061002254.html
"Puerto Princesa (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - Under the protective watch of warships, Chinese fishing vessels anchored off the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island in the disputed Spratly archipelago in the West Philippine Sea operated at will yesterday, catching fish but mainly collecting corals in large quantities.
The fishing boats were only 9 kilometres from Pag-asa, that municipal employees on the island could clearly see them using winches and booms to haul corals from the seabed to wooden "sampans" (junks), said Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon of Kalayaan, which governs Pag-asa and four other islets in the Spratlys claimed by the Philippines.
"Our people, the civilian staff of the municipality of Kalayaan, wanted to stop them yesterday," Bito-onon said. "I had to ask them to stand down and just monitor the developments for now."
The mayor said his staff observed the Chinese fishermen rigging steel cables to large coral heads to pull them up using winches. The rocks were then hauled into larger ships using booms."
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/chinese-boats-catch-fish-corals-off-philippine-island-061002254.html