A Republic of Korea Coast Guard ship shot the fishermen with water cannons to move them back.
[1] When the coast guardsmen began boarding the ship to detain the fishermen, the trawler intentionally collided with one of the Korean coastguard patrol boats.
Countries in the area, including China as well as North and South Korea, all depend on the sea for resources, which is why it is one of the most polluted and degraded bodies of water for commercialized fishing.
The fisherman who fell into a coma was the 28-year-old captain of the ship, Li Hongtao, who was flown to a hospital in Gunsan where he died from his injuries.
[7] Both Beijing and the Republic of Korea Coast Guard began investigations to locate the missing fisherman but never found him.
The truth of the matter is that China's growing demand for seafood, as well as the expanse of their political power in the world, are incentivising continued encroachments into Korean waters.
The majority of the tensions and conflicts between China and South Korea are from the overlapping jurisdiction and lack of a defined maritime boundary, which the 2001 Fisheries Agreement did not fully flesh out.
[citation needed] China claims that their jurisdiction extends 200 nautical miles based on their exclusive economic zone and the Convention on the Continental Shelf.
China conducts patrols and scientific research in the land beyond the median line, in what is supposed to be South Korean waters.
[citation needed] One of the larger points of bilateral tension is the Chinese naval incursions into South Korean territory.
The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries estimates that around US$1.1 billion is lost every year to illegal fishing, and that is on top of the money that South Korea spends to combat the poaching in the first place.
South Korea's attempts to control the constant Chinese presence in their waters include administrative and diplomatic efforts.
China has cooperated to some extent to reduce the illegal fishing, including joint patrols in the Yellow Sea and the seizure of ships and equipment.