Japanese admiral hopes fishers will return to ‘now safer waters’ |27 August 2012

Japan’s Rear Admiral Hidetoshi Fuchinoue said this in an exclusive interview with Seychelles Nation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices last week.

The best we can do is tell the fishing boat owners who are afraid of the exaggerated image of heavy presence of pirates here that it is safe, and hope they will come back,” he said.

Mr Fuchinoue was heading a Japanese 754-strong training squadron here as part of a voyage aimed at allowing 196 young officers of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force to gain navigational skills and knowledge.

Japan is one of the nations contributing to the heavy presence of naval vessels now credited with a “sharp drop in the acts of piracy in the region”.