PH Coast Guard repels 5 foreign fishing vessels near Kota Island

MANILA — The Philippine Coast Guard, in coordination with the Philippine Navy and Philippine Marine Corps, repelled five unauthorized foreign fishing vessels from the waters near Kota Island in Palawan on Sunday.

In a statement, the PCG said its personnel from Coast Guard Station Kota spotted a foreign fishing vessel around 2:15 p.m. preparing to conduct illegal fishing approximately 200 meters from the island’s shoreline.

Another vessel was seen loitering one nautical mile west of the island.

Both vessels were operating within Kota Island’s 12-nautical-mile territorial sea and failed to respond to radio challenges from the PCG.

Around 3 p.m., the PCG deployed two rubber boats carrying six personnel to approach the vessels.

As the team moved closer, the vessel near the shoreline retrieved a sampan — a small wooden boat — it had deployed, while three more foreign fishing vessels were spotted approaching the island.

The PCG said all five vessels eventually withdrew and moved beyond Kota Island’s territorial sea as personnel continued their approach.

The operation concluded at 4 p.m. without any untoward incident.

This marked the third operation conducted by Coast Guard Station Kota in two weeks to drive away foreign vessels from the island.

On October 9, the PCG also repelled Chinese maritime militia (CMMV) 9622 and its 22 sampans.

The same vessel had previously been driven away on September 28.

Kota Island is part of the Municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan.

The PCG asserted that the Philippines exercises full sovereignty over its territorial sea, where foreign vessels are prohibited from fishing without authorization.

Such activities also violate the Philippine Fisheries Code and the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, it added.