The government is buying nearly 100 new patrol boats to protect its fisheries, an official said yesterday, in a substantial expansion from its current fleet of 20 as it responds to poaching by Chinese and Taiwanese fishermen. Most of the ordered vessels – 71 short-range boats for coastal patrols and 27 able to go farther out to sea – will be delivered this year, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources chief Asis Perez said. Tensions have been rising in recent years due to China’s more muscular approach to enforcing its claim to most of the South China Sea, even up to the coasts of its neighbors, including the Philippines.

Phl buying 100 fisheries patrol boats vs poachers. (2015, June 23). The Philippine Star, pp. 1, 6.