U. S. President Donald Trump has declared North Korea is no longer a threat, but that doesn’t make the Japanese fishermen of Sakata feel any easier as they leave port for the peak fishing season. Instead, they worry they will have to confront North Korean fishing boats competing for
U. S. President Donald Trump has declared North Korea is no longer a threat, but that doesn’t make the Japanese fishermen of Sakata feel any easier as they leave port for the peak fishing season.
Instead, they worry they will have to confront North Korean fishing boats competing for their prized catch of squid in the fertile waters of the Yamato Shallows, 400 kilometers off Japan’s northwestern coast and an area Tokyo says is its exclusive economic zone.
In a ceremony marking the start of the fishing season this month, captains of Sakata’s fleet prayed for a safe fishing season and plentiful harvest. Children threw colorful ribbons onto ship decks as crewmen waved to their families from departing ships.
„The North Koreans came so close last year that we could see their faces,“ said Shigeru Saito, 60, a captain of a squid fishing ship in Sakata.
Video taken by fishermen last year show gaunt men on board North Korean boats drifting just metres from Japanese vessels.
Many of the North’s boats are small and rickety compared to Japan’s bigger, modern vessels, increasing the risk of an unintentional collision, especially at night when most squid fishing takes place.
