There has been a huge increase in Chinese deep-sea fishing trawlers in the Southern Indian Ocean far from the Chinese coast which has raised concerns in the Government and the security establishment, reports The Hindu on September 9. The issue was discussed in the recent coastal security meetings involving Director-General (DG), Shipping, the Navy and other stakeholders. “In the last four years, on an average at least 500 Chinese trawlers were present in the region and around 32,250 incidents per year were recorded,” an unnamed Defence Official stated. The trawlers were, however, not in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) but beyond, the source added. This includes trawlers from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.