Fishermen work on nets as they spend time on the shores of their coastal village in Cavite province, south of Manila, Philippines, on May 7, 2020.Aaron Favila/The Associated Press
Canada is sharing satellite data with the Philippines to help it identify illegal fishing vessels plying its waters, but Ottawa’s Dark Vessel Detection technology is also giving Manila a helping hand in a continuing territorial dispute with China.
Earlier this month, a Philippines coast guard spokesman took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to publicly acknowledge Canada’s help in tracking the movements of Chinese coast guard vessel CCG-5901, a ship that has been accused by Manila of acts of intimidation on behalf of Beijing.
China and the Philippines have competing claims in the South China Sea and they have accused each other of aggressive behaviour involving their ships and of damaging the marine environment.
The Canadian government’s Dark Vessel Detection program relies on satellites to locate and track vessels whose location-transmitting devices have been switched off. These are sometimes called dark ships or dark vessels.
The assistance is among the first visible signs of Canada’s emerging Indo-Pacific policy, unveiled in November, 2022, to guide what Ottawa has promised will be a bigger role in the region that stretches from the Indian Ocean to the north Pacific.
Maria Austria, the Philippines’ ambassador to Canada, said Ottawa’s help has been invaluable. “It basically gives us an eye in the sky for this type of activity,” she said in an interview.
Ottawa signed a Dark Vessel Detection tech-sharing agreement last year with the Philippines National Coast Watch Centre and other Philippines authorities for the period 2023 to 2028. The primary purpose is to fight overfishing, in many cases from Chinese fishing vessels.
The Philippines embassy said close to 385,000 Filipinos rely on fishing grounds in the West Philippines Sea for their livelihood. That’s the name for the portion of the South China Sea within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, the area of ocean offshore where a country claims exclusive rights regarding the exploration and exploitation of marine resources.
Ms. Austria said Manila believes some of the Chinese fishing is being conducted by Beijing’s maritime militia.
“We suspect that these are actually Chinese militia. And they are operating as fishermen or they are masquerading as fishermen.”
The Canadian data are also a boon for tracking Chinese coast guard vessels that are the vanguard of Beijing’s effort to enforce its disputed maritime claims, including in the South China Sea.
On July 5, a spokesman for the Philippines Coast Guard, Jay Tarriela, said on X that Canada’s Dark Vessel Detection technology enabled his service to “successfully track the movements” of the Chinese coast guard’s largest vessel, a 165-metre-long craft that’s been dubbed the “monster ship.” He said the Philippines coast guard challenged the Chinese ship, CCG-5901, over the radio as it entered the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
Central to recent standoffs between the two countries is the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines maintains a rusty warship manned by a small crew that it deliberately grounded in 1999 to reinforce its maritime claims. It regularly sends supplies to troops stationed there.
Last month, Manila accused the China coast guard of intentionally ramming and deliberately puncturing navy vessels and seizing weapons to disrupt a military resupply mission, seriously injuring a Filipino sailor who lost a finger.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including the Second Thomas Shoal, and rejects a 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that Beijing’s expansive claims had no basis under international law. The case was brought to the court by the Philippines.
The Philippines and China have had several maritime run-ins in the South China Sea in the past few months that included the use of water cannons by Chinese coast guard vessels that damaged Manila’s boats and injured crew members.
The Chinese embassy in Canada, in an e-mailed statement, said Beijing is committed to “maintaining peace and stability” in the South China Sea and working for the prosperity of the region.
But, the embassy added, China “will always defend its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.” The embassy said China remains committed to settling maritime disputes through dialogue and consultation.
Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans said the Philippines is one of several countries that is benefiting from the Dark Vessel Detection program. It’s also sharing data with Peru, Ecuador and several Pacific island states, the department said.
Sabrina Williams, a spokesperson for Global Affairs, said the program is not only to detect illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, but also to “enhance maritime security by reducing the ability for vessels to operate anonymously at sea.”
With a report from Reuters