Fuentes documentales para el estudio

The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean surrounded by China, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.

4.1 Scope of the East China Sea

Traditionally speaking, the East China Sea lies eastward of the Japanese islands of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands, and westward of the Asian continent. Lines from the mouth of the Yangtze River on China's Shanghai City to Korea's Jeju Island and Jeju Island to the south point of Kyushu are the northern boundary. As to the southern edge, there are three views. The key factor is whether the Taiwan Strait is an independent sea expanse or not.

A. East China Sea Containing Taiwan Strait

In the first point of view, Taiwan traditionally holds that the East China Sea does not contain the Taiwan Strait; the Taiwan Strait is part of the South China Sea. This is also the position expressed in the third edition of ''Limits of Oceans and Seas''.

The third edition of ''Limits of Oceans and Seas'' (1953) was published by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) as below.¹⁰⁵ The Ministry of the Interior of Taiwan adapted the IHO information to make its own Electronic Navigational Table.¹⁰⁶

105 See https://www.iho.int/srv1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=446&Itemid=402&lang=en

106 See https://www.nlsc.gov.tw/Home/MakePage/443?level=443

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Figure 4: The third edition of ''Limits of Oceans and Seas'' (1953) published by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).

In this document, the Taiwan Strait is obviously a part of the South China Sea as the picture shows zoomed in below. Zone No. 49 is part of the South China Sea and covers the Taiwan Strait. The pink dot is the location of the Taiwan Strait.

Figure 5: Taiwan Strait located in third edition of ''Limits of Oceans and Seas''

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We can see this view more clearly in the figure of the South East China Sea below, the blue sea expanse is the South China Sea:

Figure 6: South China Sea in third edition of "Limits of Oceans and Seas"

B. East China Sea Containing Taiwan Strait

It is believed that China supports this view. According to the divisions of administrative jurisdiction of the East China Sea Branch of State Oceanic Administration¹⁰⁷ of China (中國 國家海洋局東海分局), the southern boundary is the Dongshan Islet of Fujian Province.

Taiwan Strait is considered to be part of the East China Sea.

Figure 7: Location of the Dongshan Islet

107 From March 2018, according to the "State Council Institutional Reform Plan," the State Oceanic Administration will no longer exist, and the Bureau will be replaced by the People's Republic of China Department of Natural Resources.

103 C. Taiwan Strait is Independent

There is another solution proposed in the draft 4th edition¹⁰⁸ of S-23. Taiwan Strait is regarded as an independent zone marked as NO 7.2 as below, which is also another common version seen in some Taiwan nongovernmental publications.

Figure 8: Taiwan Strait located in draft fourth edition of ''Limits of Oceans and Seas''

D. Tropic of Cancer is the Boundary between East China Sea and South China Sea

Because the southern limit of the East China Sea is controversial, a new solution is proposed here after the present author consulted a Taiwanese marine biologist, Dr. Chao-lun Allen Chen¹⁰⁹. This position is that the southern edge of the East China Sea should be the Tropic of Cancer, the line of 23°5 N, which passes through Taiwan’s Penghu Islands (澎湖群 島) and China’s Dongshan Isle (東山島).

108 The 2002 draft 4th edition of S-23 was developed from 1998 to 2002, based on the 1986 draft. It was submitted to the IHO Member States in August 2002 for approval, but the voting process was interrupted by the IHB directing Committee in September 2002. It is a working document only. Retrieved from https://www.iho.int/mtg_docs/com_wg/S-23WG/S-23WG_Misc/Draft_2002/Draft_2002.htm

109 Dr. Chaolun Allen Chen, a Research Fellow of Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica of Taiwan.

Retrieved from http://www.biodiv.tw/en/people/faculty/dr-chaolun-allen-chen

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In other words, the East China Sea encompasses the north half of the Taiwan Strait; the other half of the Taiwan Strait belongs to the South China Sea. The boundary between the South China Sea and the East China Sea is the Tropic of Cancer, the line of 23°5 N.

Figure 9: Extent of the East China Sea Proposed in this Work

The most important argument supporting that the demarcation line between the East China Sea and the South China Sea should be the Tropic of Cancer is based on the marine biophase. The Tropic of Cancer has great significance for the land and sea climate. Fish and marine creatures in the temperate ocean and subtropical ocean are very different from one

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another. Moreover, two kinds of temperate and subtropical fish can be harvested in Penghu Island waters in the same fishing net, which are located at 23.5 degrees north latitude.

Moreover, there is an uplift and banded seabed, academically called “Dongshan land bridge” (東山陸橋), also translated as “Tungshan land bridge”, beneath the Taiwan Strait waters connecting the Penghu Islands and Dongshan Island. Ten thousand years ago the Dongshan Land Bridge connected the Neolithic people of Taiwan with mainland China until melting glaciers made sea levels rise. The Dongshan Land Bridge is also considered to separate the ancient East China Sea and the ancient South China Sea and then to form two potential refuges.¹¹⁰¹¹¹

To sum up, for the reasons discussed above, which sometimes intertwine to form an organic whole and become more persuasive when we understand more of the sea’s biological history, we may safely arrive at the conclusion that the best southern boundary of the East China Sea is the Tropic of Cancer, 23.5 degrees north latitude.

110 Dan Zhao, Qi Li, Lingfeng Kong, & Hong Yu. (2017, August 20). Cryptic diversity of marine gastropod Monodonta labio (Trochidae): did the early Pleistocene glacial isolation and sea surface temperature gradient jointly drive diversification of sister species and/or subspecies in the Northwestern Pacific? Marine Ecology, 30(4), e12443. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/maec.12443

111 Shing-Fan Huang, (2014, June 16). Hypothesizing Origin, Migration Routes and Distribution Patterns of Gymnosperms in Taiwan. Taiwania, 59(2), p.139-163.

Retrieved from http://tai2.ntu.edu.tw/taiwania/abstract.php?type=abstract&id=1363

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4.2 Extent of the East China Sea Explored Herein

Considering the following factors: the 2013 Taiwan-Japan Fisheries Agreement which the northern boundary is 27 degrees north latitude; to the southward area of 27 degrees north latitude, it is currently within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone and within the substantive jurisdiction of the Taiwan's fisheries management and enforcement power; many Taiwanese fishing boats work there year round; considering the feasibility of the actual implementation of the scheme discussed in the present work, this work narrows the discussion area of the East China Sea to the space between the north of 27 degrees north latitude and the south of 23.5 degrees north latitude, the Tropic of Cancer.

Figure 10: Extent of East China Sea Explored in this Work

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4.3 Fishery Resources in East China Sea

The East China Sea spans temperate and subtropical zones. Its northern and western seabed topography is a flat continental reef, which is not deep and mainly paved with sandy and sandy soft mud. The water temperature is about 10 degrees Celsius in winter. However, in the southern and eastern parts of the East China Sea, water depths range from hundreds to thousands of meters. The water temperature is affected by the Kuroshio Current, which is a warm current keeping the water at about 20 degrees Celsius. This affects the growth of fish and the catch in the East China Sea. Many fish species breed, grow, find food, and survive the winter here.

Because the East China Sea is a semi-enclosed sea, it makes fish stocks relatively independent, and fish migration is relatively small. In addition, a large number of Chinese coastal rivers bring rich nutrients, among them the Yangtze River, along with the nutrients from the Kuroshio Current, so that the economically-attractive fish species in the East China Sea are diverse. However, river pollution is increasing from cities, which flow into the East China Sea. How to preserve and manage hundreds of fish species has become the most challenging fishery management issue in the world.

According to the Japan Fisheries Agency data shown below, the Japanese long-term Fishery Resource Assessment study is based on fifty species which contained 84 fish stocks when updated in 2016. The United States has conducted studies of 473 fish stocks, whereas the European Union has undertaken studies of 186 fish stocks. But if we take the size and ratio of national land area to the exclusive economic sea area into account, Japan is salient, as the data show below.

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Figure 11: Comparison of fishery resource assessments in Japan, United States, and European Union

The present work focuses on the southeast area of the East China Sea. The cases of Taiwan fishery management selected in Chapter 7, including Shark, Crab, Mackerel, Neritic Squid, and Mahi-mahi, are mainly living their marine life in the southeastern East China Sea.

However, except for Mackerel and Neritic Squid, there is a lack of long-term and credible scientific marine biology research on the other species.

The East China Sea is a semi-enclosed sea area encircled by China, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. The fisheries development processes of these four countries differ; Japan was the first to develop, followed by Taiwan and South Korea.

In the past fifteen years, China has been building large numbers of fishing boats. The number of its fishing boats has surpassed the former three countries and the lack of fishery management has severely depleted the fishery resources in the East China Sea. The serious cross-border illegal fishing of Chinese fishing boats generated clashes with the other three countries regarding maritime law enforcement.

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How to jointly conserve and sustainably use the fishery resources of the East China Sea has become a crucial issue of marine policy for the four countries concerned.

4.4 EEZs Claimed in East China Sea

The East China Sea is an extended, narrow sea area among China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, 300 to 400 nautical miles north to south, and 140 to 280 nautical miles east to west.

From the geographical configuration of the East China Sea, we can easily see a high potential for demarcation disputes because China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan all claim 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zone (EEZ) waters. The claims over the EEZ are described below.

First, Japan adopted a Law on the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf dated 14 June 1996, with entry into force as of 20 July 1996. It was the first of the four countries bordering the East China Sea to do so. Second, the Law on the South Korean Exclusive Economic Zone Law was adopted 8 August 1996 and came into effect on 10 September 1996. Third, the Law on the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf was adopted in Taiwan on 30 December 1997, with effect from 21 January 1998. Finally, the Law on the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf of the People’s Republic of China was adopted 26 June 1998.

As the EEZs established by these four countries in the East China Sea overlap, the 1997

"Fisheries Agreement of the People's Republic of China and Japan", the 2001 "Fisheries Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the

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Government of the Republic of Korea”, and the 2013 “Taiwan-Japan Fisheries Agreement”¹¹² have been concluded.

112 As for the political factors between China and Taiwan, the actual name of the Taiwan-Japan agreement is

"Fisheries Agreement between the Association of East Asia Relations and the Interchange Association (亞東 關係協會與公益財團法人交流協會漁業協議)". Retrieved from

https://www.fa.gov.tw/cht/LawsAnnounceFisheries/content.aspx?id=25&chk=0eeae2ec-001b-4b84-9b8b-573bde2b772c&param= and

https://www.mofa.gov.tw/en/News_Content.aspx?n=539A9A50A5F8AF9E&sms=37B41539382B84BA&s

=E80C25D078D837BB#

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PART II. LEGAL TOOLS FOR CONSERVATION OF