The World - News from July 21, 1989

Two Taiwanese fishing boats are being pursued in the Pacific Ocean by U.S. authorities, who believe they were engaged in illegal salmon fishing. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Morgenthau is after the Song Chin No. 1, headed west about 1,000 miles from Midway Island, while the U.S. flag vessel Red Fin is chasing the Ta Fong No. 11, traveling southwest 700 miles northwest of Midway Island. The chase began after federal agents, posing as crooked fish brokers, arrested two Taiwanese captains in the north Pacific as their boats prepared to transfer 500 metric tons of allegedly illegal salmon to a U.S. vessel. After the arrests, a Coast Guard cutter appeared. As it neared the Taiwanese boats, they fled without their captains.