(Reuters) – The United States, Japan, Australia and India will unveil a maritime initiative to curb illegal fishing in the Indo-Pacific at the Quartet summit in Tokyo, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing a US official.
He said the maritime initiative will use satellite technology to create a tracking system for illegal fishing from the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific by linking observation points in Singapore and India.
US President Joe Biden is visiting Japan for a meeting of the Quartet – Australia, India, Japan and the United States in Tokyo – which has strengthened cooperation in the face of China’s growing push.
According to a report from the Financial Times, the maritime initiative will enable these countries to bring illegal fishing under control, even when boats disable transponders that are normally used to track ships.
The US and India Pacific Coordinator, Kurt Campbell, said earlier this month that the US would soon announce plans to combat illegal fishing in the US.
Many countries in the Indo-Pacific region are angry at the huge Chinese fishing fleet. They say its ships often violate their exclusive economic zones, causing environmental damage and economic losses.
(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Ziminski)
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