In a high-seas chase lasting several minutes, Satam tries in vain to outrun the faster boats in the hope of slipping inside the ring of reefs controlled by China, where fish are more abundant.
"I do this thing often. They already chased me earlier today," he said, adding the Chinese speedboats had bumped his vessel.Scarborough Shoal is 240 kilometres west of the Philippines' main island of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometres from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan. Philippine officials also accused the Chinese coast guard of laying a 300-metre long floating barrier across the entrance to the shoal shortly before the BRP Datu Bankaw arrived.
Some of the fishing crews had been there for two weeks already using nets, lines and spears to catch tuna, grouper and red snapper. The instruction was repeated in English on a scrolling digital message board on one of the Chinese coast guard vessels.