明日24日に東京で開催されるQUADの主要議題が米国政府高官からの情報としてFinancial Timesから発表された。
QUADが中国から魚を守るのである。違法操業監視を中心とする海洋構想だ。
`Quad’ security group plans system to track illegal fishing by China
海洋安全保障の現場を知る人は咄嗟に理解できる話であるが、私も2008年にミクロネシア海洋安全保障事業を立ち上げる時に「魚？」と疑問に思ったし、当時の豪州王立海軍は「魚を追いかけるのは海軍の仕事ではない」と明言し何十年も継続して来たPacific Patrol Boat Programを終了させようとしていた程だ。
魚、特にEEZと公海を泳ぎ回るマグロなどの高度回遊魚の監視こそ、海洋安全保障の要であると気がついたのは米国海軍である。2011年、クリントン国務長官の時だ。PACOMのAdmiral Patrick Michael Walshがキャンベル国務次官補とアイランドホッピングをして違法操業取締の強化を主張した。あれから11年だ。
なぜマグロなのか？
違法操業自体が、麻薬、人身売買、マネーロンダリングといった越境犯罪に加担している事もあるが、マグロの監視という名目で他国のEEZ, 公海の監視が可能になる。しかもクアドと言うと４カ国しか見えないが、クアドが形成するセキュリティダイヤモンドは、自らEEZの監視・取り締まりができない小島嶼国が多く存在する。当方の『インド太平洋開拓史』に表を作成したが、これらの小島嶼国はEEZが陸面積の数千倍という状況の他に、人口、GDPで比較しても日米などとは比較にならず、自ら海洋資源を管理不可能であることがわかる。
米軍の動きは早い。
WCPFC - The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) の中にHSB&I - High Sea Boarding & Inspectionという制度があり、2012年の時点で79隻の船を登録。その内USCGの船は7隻のみ。あとは軍艦が法執行船として公海を監視するのだ。
EEZの監視となると沿岸国の主権の範囲、国家管轄権の範囲になり、今回発表された衛星による監視の次のステップとなる取締の課題があるが、これはUSCGが太平洋島嶼国で推進しているShipriders制度を日豪印そして英仏NZも推進すればよい。
日本は水産庁監視船がパラオで既にその実績を作っている。
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The Financial Times has just received word from a senior U.S. government official that the main agenda for QUAD, which will be held in Tokyo tomorrow (24th), is as follows.
QUAD will protect fish from China. It is a maritime initiative centered on monitoring illegal fishing.
It is a story that those who know the field of maritime security can understand on the spur of the moment, but when I launched the Micronesian Maritime Security Project in 2008, I too thought, "Fish? At the time, the Royal Australian Navy had announced that "it is not the Navy's job to chase fish" and intended to concluded the Pacific Patrol Boat Program, which had been in operation for decades.
It was the U.S. Navy that realized that monitoring fish, especially highly migratory fish such as tuna that swim in EEZs and high seas, was the cornerstone of maritime security. 2011, during Secretary Clinton's term, PACOM Admiral Patrick Michael Walsh was island hopping with Assistant Secretary of State Campbell, and the two of them were on the ground in the Pacific Ocean. It's been 11 years since then.
Why tuna?
Illegal operations themselves are sometimes complicit in cross-border crimes such as drug and human trafficking and money laundering, but they also allow for monitoring of other countries' EEZs and high seas in the name of tuna monitoring. Moreover, although only four countries are visible when we speak of the Quad, the security diamond that the Quad forms is made up of many small island states that cannot monitor and enforce their EEZs on their own. A table was prepared in my "History of Indo-Pacific Colonization," which shows that these small island nations have EEZs thousands of times larger than their land area, and in terms of population and GDP, they are incomparable to Japan and the U.S., and cannot manage their marine resources by themselves.
The U.S. military move quickly.
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) has a system called HSB&I (High Sea Boarding & Inspection), and as of 2012, 79 vessels were registered. Only 7 of those vessels are USCG vessels. The rest are military vessels that monitor the high seas as law enforcement vessels.
Monitoring of the EEZ falls within the scope of sovereignty and national jurisdiction of coastal states, and the next step after the satellite-based monitoring announced this time is the issue of enforcement on the ground.
This can be done by promoting the shipriders system that the USCG is promoting in Pacific island countries. Japan, Australia, India, the United Kingdom, France, and NZ should follow US.
Japan's Fisheries Agency monitoring vessels have already established a successful case in Palau.
