Japan Coast Guard

Coast Guard: Eleven of the vessels were poaching coral around the Ogasawara island chain, about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, or the Izu island chain, about 600 km south of the capital, the Coast Guard said Feb. 18, according to Asahi Shimbun. We will continue to remain alert for coral poaching in cooperation with the Fisheries Agency and the Tokyo metropolitan government, Yuji Sato, commandant of the Japan Coast Guard, told reporters on Feb. 18 and A record 16 Chinese vessels were seized in 2014 after being caught poaching coral in Japanese waters for the lucrative jewelry market in their home country, the Japan Coast Guard said. The 2014 figure topped the previous record of 14 Chinese vessels seized in 2000, most of them trawlers in the Sea of Japan. Such statistics were first compiled in 1977. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.