(Standup)"From the break of dawn, this wholesale seafood market west of Seoul is bustling with people buying and selling crabs. The peak crabbing season hasn't arrived yet.. but the amount traded in this market alone is nearly 90 tons more than the same time last year. That's a 140-percent jump.""We're catching around 30-percent more crabs this year than we did last spring."The volume of crabs caught in waters off the coast of Incheon in the third week of April has shot up to 131 tons this year -- which is 100 tons more than in the same week last year, according to the West Sea Fisheries Research Institute.Part of the reason for the jump has to do with a new unit put in place by the Korean Coast Guard -- the Five West Sea Islands Coast Guard Unit."This unit was launched to monitor and crack down on foreign boats in South Korean waters near the Northern Limit Line and Exclusive Economic Zone."Chinese vessels are responsible for the highest volume of seafood caught illegally in Korean waters.In 2012, an estimated 675-thousand tons of seafood were caught by Chinese boats fishing illegally in Korean waters, which translates to a direct loss of 1.26 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Fisheries Policy Institute.But since the special Coast Guard unit was launched on April 4th, there's been an 80-percent drop in the number of Chinese boats fishing illegally near the NLL.Many see this as a result of the tightened monitoring in the area.The Coast Guard currently has 4 to 5 vessels and 3 to 4 speed boats monitoring the border 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- more than double the number on duty before.When an unregistered foreign boat is picked up on radar, the Korean vessels gather at the site and the speed boats, with nine Coast Guard officers each, are sent out to confront the offending vessel."When we confront them, they usually resist by using fishing nets and pipes to attack us. We use our water cannon with an incapacitant to suppress them. Then we board the boat to capture it."On top of that, special forces teams with bulletproof speed boats have been stationed on two of the smaller islands near the maritime border.Coast Guard officials say the additional forces have made their jobs much easier."Now that there are more speed boats in operation and a unit just to monitor the illegal Chinese fishing boats, it's not as easy for them to do whatever they want."The Coast Guard says that in addition to the new patrol units, it will continue to seek diplomatic solutions to keep foreign boats out of Korean waters as well as stronger punishments from the foreign governments themselves.Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.