The Coast Guard has detained a Taiwanese trawler found to be fishing in Japanese waters off Kagoshima Prefecture, Taiwan's Fisheries Agency reported Thursday.
A Taiwanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that while the agency has asked Tokyo to provide more information, it is awaiting the ruling of a Japanese court.
"When a fishing boat operates in another country's territorial waters, it intrudes into that country's territory," the official said. "We cannot do anything but to respect the legal decision of that country."
Japan Coast Guard personnel boarded the Taiwanese trawler Chun Ho Feng 166 on Wednesday night on suspicion of illegally fishing in Japan's territorial waters off Kagoshima.
While the captain was brought in for questioning, the remainder of the crew — a Taiwanese chief engineer and seven non-Taiwanese members — are still on the vessel and may be taken ashore for questioning if necessary, Taipei's official said.