The Vietnamese vessel which was caught in Malaysian waters.
MIRI: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has detained 38 Vietnam nationals and seized six tonnes of marine catch, valued at RM60,000 in waters off Miri on Wednesday (Aug 9).
MMEA District 13 (DM13) director Captain Mohamad Fauzi said the agency teamed up with the Customs Department to conduct an operation around the waters of Miri under‘Ops Bersatu 2017’ since Aug 9.
On the first day of the operation, the agency detected two vessels at a distance of less than five nautical miles from their boat at 2.15pm, suspected to be fishing illegally using the pair trawling method.
“At around 3.20pm, the MMEA detained a fishing vessel with the registration ‘One United 35’ at 73 nautical miles off Tanjong Lobang. Upon inspection, the vessel was registered as a cargo boat without a ship master as stated in the license.
“Eight from a total of 19 crew members onboard the vessel including the ship master did not have any valid identification documents,” he said.
Meanwhile, the other vessel with the registration ‘One United 32’ was detained at 3.53pm.
“Upon inspection, the fishing vessel was registered as a cargo boat and was using another boat license with the registration ‘One United 8’. Two from a total 19 crew members including the ship master did not have any valid identification documents,” said Fauzi.
The boats were found to have committed an offence under Section 15 (1) (a) of the Fisheries Act 1985, and the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952/1960.
“The two boats were detained and were brought to MMEA Vessel Detention Centre at Kampung Pulau Melayu here for further investigation. A total of 38 crew members including ship masters aged between 14 and 48 years old were arrested to help in the investigation,” he added.