Philippine Coast Guard drives away foreign fishing vessels near Kota Island

Floyd Brenz., Philippine Canadian Inquirer
October 18, 2026

Photo Courtesy: PCG

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), working with the Philippine Navy and Philippine Marine Corps, has driven away five unauthorized foreign fishing vessels from the waters near Kota Island in Palawan following reports of suspected illegal fishing within the island’s territorial sea.

The joint operation took place on October 11 after Coast Guard personnel spotted a foreign vessel preparing to fish about 200 meters from the shoreline at around 2:15 p.m. Another vessel was observed roughly one nautical mile west of the island. Both reportedly ignored radio warnings from Philippine authorities.

The PCG deployed two rubber boats carrying six personnel to approach the vessels. During the operation, the fishing boat near the shoreline retrieved a small boat, known as a sampan, that it had deployed. Three additional foreign fishing vessels were also seen approaching the island.

As Philippine personnel continued toward the vessels, all five eventually withdrew and moved beyond Kota Island’s 12-nautical-mile territorial sea. The operation ended at around 4 p.m. without any reported incident.

According to the PCG, the operation marked its third effort in less than two weeks to drive away foreign vessels from the area. Earlier incidents on September 28 and October 9 involved Chinese Maritime Militia Vessel 9622 and groups of small fishing boats.

The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea has also raised concerns over reported unauthorized fishing and waste dumping by Chinese vessels near Kota Island during a separate encounter earlier this month.

Kota Island is part of the Municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan, within the disputed Spratly Islands. Philippine authorities maintain that the country exercises sovereignty over the island’s territorial sea and that unauthorized foreign fishing violates Philippine laws, including the Fisheries Code and the Philippine Maritime Zones Act.

The PCG said it would continue monitoring the waters around the Kalayaan Island Group in coordination with the Navy and Marines to respond to further unauthorized maritime activity.