China insists on settlement for poachers

MANILA, Philippines — China reiterated its call for the release of the nine Chinese fishermen apprehended off the Philippine-claimed Hasa-Hasa (Half Moon) Shoal near Palawan Island for poaching.

In a press conference in Beijing on Monday, China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that China has "made clear" its "positions and demands on many occasions" on the arrest of the crew members charged for violation of two fishing laws.

"We hope that this incident can be properly settled as soon as possible," Hua said.

Beijing earlier said that the fishermen were exercising activities in the maritime area that China considers as part of its sovereignty and demanded they be immediately released.

"The Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines have lodged representations with the Philippine side, asking for rational explanation and an immediate release of the Chinese boat and its crew," Hua had said.

Read: Philippines ignores China demand to free fishermen

Nine of the eleven foreigners were indicted Monday before the Puerto Princesa City Regional Trial Court, while two identified as minors were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for subsequent deportation.

More than 500 endangered marine animals were found in the cabin hold of the fishing vessel carrying the Chinese flag, most of which were already dead. The Philippine National Police (PNP) Maritime Group returned 177 surviving sea turtles to the sea over the weekend.

Also read: Photos of dead turtles in Chinese ship anger Filipinos

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila reiterated that the Chinese were arrested within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, the 230 mile (370 kilometer) stretch of sea where the country has exclusive right to fish and exploit undersea gas and oil deposits under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Five Filipino fishermen were caught separately near Half Moon Shoal, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) from Palawan province, with about 70 turtles in their boat. Criminal complaints have also been filed against them for illegally catching the turtles, but they sought the services of Filipino lawyers and were not immediately indicted.

The fishermen face up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $2,300 each. They can post bail but cannot not leave the Philippines because of immigration law violations after failing to show travel documents.

The turtles recovered alive by police have been returned to the sea, officials said, but TV footages of the dead turtles, some of them apparently butchered and lying in pools of blood on the fishing boat's deck, have sparked condemnations.

"I don't think anyone can exaggerate the brutality of what they did," said Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, who heads the conservation group World Wildlife Fund in the Philippines. "In a world faced with resource scarcity it makes no sense, no sense at all, for one country to try to gain control of that rapidly depressing resource ... because all it is doing is taking the food from someone else." - with Jim Gomez, AP