SEAFOODNEWS.COM [JAPAN REPORTS] TOKYO — July 31, 2014 — Japan and Korea are in an abnormal plight of expelling each other's fishing vessels from respective exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as the bilateral fisheries negotiations come to a dead end.
In the annual talks, Japan urged Korea to improve the present situation of Korean fishing boats in its EEZ, pointing out that Koreans are engaged in illegal activities in hairtail catch.
Negotiations came to a halt as Korea refused to cater to this request.
The two countries were unable to strike an agreement by June 30, the limit date, thus ending up in shutting the other country’s fishing vessels from their EEZs effective from July 1.
This was the first case where the two countries' fishermen were rendered unable to operate in each other's EEZ ever since 1999 when the current Japan-Korea Fisheries Agreement took effect.
Any fishing boats operating in other country's EEZ before the two governments come to agreement would be categorized as engaging in illegal fishing and be subject to seizure by the other country's authorities.
Both governments are said to be aiming at resuming fisheries talks so that adverse effect may not spread to the other areas of their mutual relations.
But observers point out that the settlement of the row might be delayed in the absence of a clue for resumption of talks between the two countries–now facing a broader bone of contention as represented by the differences in understanding of history in the recent past. But recent reports suggest talks will resume in August.
According to the Japanese government's Fisheries Agency, about 120 Korean vessels that had operated in the Japanese EEZ as of the end of June turned back to Korean waters.
It is likely that no immediate impact on Japanese fishing vessels has been observed.
But if the negotiations continue to be stalled for a longer period, Japanese mackerel fishing near Korea's Cheju Island–which will go into the prime period from around October–might be subject to negative impact.
Japan and Korea negotiate over the conditions of fishing in each other's EEZ at the Japan-Korea Joint Fisheries Commission.
This year the commission had envisaged settling the fishing conditions and the number of fishing boats for the period from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.