Another Fishing Boat Shooting Incident

m.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/2016/0 … ve-ROC.htm

The facts are unclear but it appears two Taiwanese fishing vessels were shot at by Indonesian patrol boats. One vessel has ten bullet holes in the bridge area. Indonesia seems to be claiming that the Taiwanese were poaching and tried to ram one of the Indonesian vessels. Taiwan is asking for proof.

If the shooting was prompted by ramming, it would seem somewhat justified. But poaching alone does not seem to warrant bullets. I’d imagine that events like this make Go South more difficult. It will be interesting to see if Beijing takes a position.

and why should poaching not deserve bullets? Rampant poaching (and the Taiwanese are among the worst, together with Chinese and Russians) is depleting fish stocks worldwide, as well as stealing resources from the poorer nations, like Indonesia. Besides, poachers tend not to stop when approached for boarding by the ‘host’ nation patrol boats for arrest of the crew and confiscation of the vessel and catch, hence the bullets. Fuck 'em. The poachers, that is. I’ve long been an advocate of using poaching vessels, especially in the southern pacific whaling oceans, as unannounced target practice for submarines.

Fishermen are not often law abiding. But a small fishing boat is a waste of a torpedo :smiley:
However the Coast Guard firing upon unauthorized fishing vessels may become the “thing” to do in the future.

However, this means all fishermen will need to be more careful not to venture into foreign waters.

But the problem comes when deciding whether we are talking about the 12 nautical mile limit or the 200 nautical mile “economic zone” , which often overlaps. As in the Taiwanese/Philippino altercation .

Cool… fishing boats can talk.

Subsequent reports points to pirates and not coast guards.

Eh, to compound the problem, aren’t most Taiwanese vessel crews from Indonesia, Filipinas or other countrie sin teh South China sea? Most of the time, only the captan is Taiwanese. There have been many in boat incidents, last one two indonesian crewmembers were killed in a fight. Good will ain’t that common in this field.

so, the fishing pirates were fired on by other pirates? It is the Straits of Malacca after all, hardly a) a Taiwanese fishing exclusive area, and b) an area safe from pirates.

Or were the Taiwanese “fishing boats” actually engaged in piracy themselves?

[quote=“urodacus”]so, the fishing pirates were fired on by other pirates? It is the Straits of Malacca after all, hardly a) a Taiwanese fishing exclusive area, and b) an area safe from pirates.

Or were the Taiwanese “fishing boats” actually engaged in piracy themselves?[/quote]

The newest report today confirmed it was the Indonesian officials, as they are claiming they only fired upon Seng-Te-Tsai fishing boat because they were rammed by it first.

As I recalled the Strait of Malacca is an international shipping lane, I doubt they were fishing there, especially when they were coming back from the Indian Ocean.

just checking…

So, as for a waste of torpedoes, there are such a thing as training blanks essentially a non-armed and sometimes recoverable dummy, which would sink a concrete or even light steel by kinetic energy alone

Subs still sink surface ships? Thought they were mostly to carry nukes and the torpedos were anti other subs mainly.

But yeah, why not try em on pirate ships. Fire AWAY. :slight_smile:

[quote=“hansioux”][quote=“urodacus”]so, the fishing pirates were fired on by other pirates? It is the Straits of Malacca after all, hardly a) a Taiwanese fishing exclusive area, and b) an area safe from pirates.

Or were the Taiwanese “fishing boats” actually engaged in piracy themselves?[/quote]

The newest report today confirmed it was the Indonesian officials, as they are claiming they only fired upon Seng-Te-Tsai fishing boat because they were rammed by it first.

As I recalled the Strait of Malacca is an international shipping lane, I doubt they were fishing there, especially when they were coming back from the Indian Ocean.[/quote]

To be honest, I have always read that the Strait of Malacca is a pirate’s den, a la Somali coast. In that case, stopping at any ship that flashes its lights on you may not be such a good idea, like stopping in the middle of a favela to change a tire.