Caught in South China Sea tangle, Southeast Asia’s fishermen worry about livelihoods

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Up against larger Chinese vessels, small-scale fishermen from the Philippines and Vietnam share their ‘scary’ encounters at sea with the programme Insight.

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LUZON, Philippines: Filipino fisherman Bobong Lomuardo used to net a quality catch at the rich fishing grounds around the Scarborough Shoal.

“It’s scary because the Filipinos use small vessels at sea, basically just small boats. In comparison with their ships, ours would seem like flies,” said Bobby Roldan, the National Federation of Small Fisherfolk Organisations in the Philippines’ vice-chair for Luzon. Like Lomuardo, Vietnamese fisherman Tran Hong Tho’s favourite fishing spot is a site where China has staked a claim: The Paracel Islands, part of which lie within Vietnam’s EEZ.

“When rammed , we heard a loud crack … About 15 minutes later, my boat sank, and only the prow was afloat.”Tensions remain high in the South China Sea as surrounding countries take steps to protect their interests and the US conducts freedom of navigation operations to challenge Beijing’s claims. In China, its maritime militia is mostly organised by the country’s large fishing companies, and “can be considered a reserve force for the People’s Liberation Army Navy”, said Zhang Hongzhou, a research fellow in the China Programme at Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies .

“It assumed that China would reciprocate with massive infrastructure support and development assistance … Not much has come out of that,” said Batongbacal, the director of the university’s Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea. China has 20 outposts in the Paracel Islands, seven in the Spratlys and also controls Scarborough Shoal, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

The territorial dispute is as much a food security issue as it is a law and order and national security issue, said Gloria Ramos, vice-president of ocean conservation organisation Oceana.

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