KUCHING: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) here detained two foreign fishing boats and arrested seven crew members for unauthorised fishing in national waters last week.
MMEA Sarawak director First Admiral Kamal Ariffin Jusoh said that the Tun Fatimah offshore patrol vessel (OPV) conducted the arrests on Thursday night (Mar 7) and Friday morning (Mar 8).
The first incident involved a Vietnamese fishing boat with three crew members, including the skipper, detained around 10.30 pm at about 113 nautical miles north of Tanjung Po.
The second incident involved an Indonesian fishing boat with four crew members, including the skipper, detained around 4.10 am at about 82 nautical miles north of Tanjung Po.
“Inspections revealed that both the Vietnamese and Indonesian crew members, aged between 30 and 44, lacked valid identification documents. Consequently, they are suspected of trespassing and fishing in Malaysian waters without a permit.
As a result, the vessels, along with fish catches valued at more than RM3 million and the crew members were brought to the Tun Abang Salahuddin Maritime Complex Jetty (KOMTAS) for further actions.
The case is under investigation under Section 15(1)(a) of the Fisheries Act 1985 for fishing without a permit in national waters.
He also urged the maritime community to report any suspicious or criminal activities at sea to the MMEA Sarawak Operations Centre at 082-432544 or through MERS 999.
