New images show China's clam harvesting fleets back in West PHL Sea

China's clam harvesting fleets have returned to the disputed South China Sea "in force" after a notable decrease in activity since 2016, according to new satellite images from Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative-Center for Strategic and International Studies (AMTI-CSIS).

Described by AMTI-CSIS as China's "most destructive boats," the clam harvesting fleets were spotted in the area "over the last six months."

Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative-Center for Strategic and International Studies

"These fleets, which typically include dozens of small fishing vessels accompanied by a handful of larger 'motherships,' destroy vast swaths of coral reef in order to extract endangered giant clams," AMTI-CSIS said in a report published May 20, 2019.

AMTI-CSIS said since late 2018, the fleets, as shown by the satellite imagery, have been operating at Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal and throughout the Paracels, including at Bombay Reef.

"The clam boats have also returned to Scarborough Shoal, which is a particularly sensitive issue in Sino-Philippine relations," the report said.

"The reef was already extensively damaged by the earlier phase of clam harvesting up to 2016," it added. "But imagery from December 2018 reveals the return of a large number of clam boats."

Images from December and March reveal new scarring on the reef from recent extraction:

Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative-Center for Strategic and International Studies

Scarborough, called Huangyan Island by the Chinese, is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

Malacañang has taken exception to China’s extraction of giant clams at  Scarborough Shoal, calling it an “affront” to the country’s sovereignty.

Malacañang also said in April that the Philippine government has filed a diplomatic protest and will be taking legal action against China over the incident as announced by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.

China and five other governments—Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan—have been locked in long-simmering territorial rifts in the South China Sea that analysts feared as Asia’s next potential flashpoint for a major armed conflict.

Beijing insists ownership over the waters and its features nearly in its entirety—a claim debunked by an arbitral tribunal court in The Hague, Netherlands in July 2016, shortly after President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office. —KBK, GMA News