The 2011 Gyeongryeolbi island fishing incident occurred on March 2, 2011 in

Taean County Taean County () is a county in Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea. Taean Haean National Park is located within Taean County, and is known for its clear seas, unpolluted soils, coastal flora, tidal flats, coasts, and white sand. It includes thirty di ...

, in South Chungcheong Do,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, at 3 pm at southwest off Gyeongryeolbi island between People’s Republic of China fishing boats and the

Coast Guard.

Incident

Seven Chinese fishing boats were spotted by a patrol boat from the South Korea Coast Guard. Two of the 30

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

Chinese boats entered into the South Korea Exclusive Economic Zone illegally.Donga.com.
Donga.com
" ''2 Chinese fishing boats seized after violent resistance.'' Retrieved on 2011-03-07. Korean authorities used fire extinguishers to disperse the boats, then sent out two speedboats and seized two of the boats after a 10-minute chase. When boarding the boat, violence broke out. The fisherman began swinging axes and

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...

s. The Korean officers fired 10 blanks and live

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

ammunition. One of the shot penetrated hit left ankle of one Chinese fisherman. Two people were injured in total, including one Chinese fisherman and one Korean coast guard.

Aftermath

The fisherman shot was sent to a hospital in Gunsan by helicopter. According to the Coast Guard, this was the first time shots were fired for

illegal fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes pl ...

in the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour terms ...

References

{{reflist Gyeongryeolbi island fishing incident Gyeongryeolbi island fishing incident China–South Korea relations Fishing conflicts

Incident

Aftermath

See also

References