Ay ay, sir! A shoal of Sperm Whales!

China has not yet tried to evict the eight Filipino marines still living on the Second Thomas Shoal, but Zhang has included this shoal in the country s series of achievements in the South China Sea.

This is apparent from China s effective seizure last year of Scarborough Shoal, located well within the Philippines exclusive economic zone, and the controlling presence of Chinese vessels this year around the Second Thomas Shoal, part of the disputed Spratly Islands.

At the eastern end of the island of Warbah, where a drying shoal that could be subject to major change over the years existed, two median lines were calculated, one taking the shoal into account and the other ignoring it.

Likewise, a standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea led to protests in Manila.

Tension arose earlier this year when Beijing and Manila accused each other of illegally occupying the territorial waters near the Scarborough Shoal located in the South China Sea.

The following day, 26 June, they sailed into the northern entrance of Forlandsundet, which they simply called Keerwyck , but were forced to turn back because of a shoal.

China and the Philippines had been locked in a heated standoff over rich fishing grounds at the Scarborough Shoal, a chain of reefs and islands in the South China Sea.

Meanwhile, the standoff over the Scarborough Shoal has calmed down, and, while Japan recalled its ambassador from South Korea over the Dokdo incident, it is unlikely the two countries would come to blows.

But the fact is that China s navy is becoming increasingly active in the South China Sea, at the Senkaku Islands and Scarborough Shoal in particular, but also around the Spratly Islands claimed by Vietnam.

TOKYO China is now engaged in bitter disputes with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal and Japan over the Senkaku Islands, both located far beyond China s 200 mile wide territorial waters in the South China Sea.

China s assertive stance in its dispute with the country over the Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands is being used to justify increased US military presence and intervention in the Philippines and in the region.

Then the bottom of the net is pursed (closed) underneath the fish shoal by hauling a wire running from the vessel through rings along the bottom of the net and then back to the vessel.

The first one, the hurricane Lenny road rehabilitation project involved the reconstruction of roads in Shoal Bay West, Sandy Ground, George Hill, the Quarter, East End and Island Harbour, which were damaged by Hurricane Lenny.

For example, China has not only escalated its challenge to Japan s decades old control of the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, but is also facing off against the Philippines since taking effective control of Scarborough Shoal last year.

Last year, China effectively took control of the Scarborough Shoal, an area of the South China Sea that is also claimed by the Philippines and Taiwan, by deploying ships and erecting entry barriers that prohibit Filipino fishermen from accessing their traditional fishing preserve.

At the bottom, the houses are outlined in black, like the figures in a stained glass window, the trees resemble dense skeins of wool, and the earth has a carved solidity, while the sky swirls and surges, like a shoal of fish, and the starlight spreads outward in concentric waves.