Overview
- Officials said the Chinese-flagged trawler ignored a stop order for an onboard inspection about 170 kilometers southwest of Onna-jima lighthouse on Feb. 12.
- Fisheries Agency personnel boarded the vessel at around 8:25 a.m. and arrested the 47-year-old captain at about 12:20 p.m. on suspicion of evading inspection under the Fisheries Sovereignty Law.
- The vessel, carrying 11 crew members, was seized within Japan’s exclusive economic zone off Nagasaki.
- The agency said this was its first capture of a foreign fishing boat this year.
- Agriculture Minister Kazuwa Suzuki pledged continued resolute enforcement, while investigators declined to comment on any diplomatic steps as the probe continues.