Five crew members of a Class C fishing boat who are detained by the MMEA.
KUCHING: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Sarawak contingent detained two local fishing boats at two separate locations yesterday for breaching the terms and conditions of their licences.
Twelve crew members comprising seven on board one of the boats and five on the other were also detained to facilitate investigation.
State MMEA director, First Admiral (Maritime) Zin Azman Md Yunus, said the first boat with Class C licence was intercepted by Maritime Enforcement Agency Bintulu about 8.5 nautical miles off shore Bintulu at 11.07am yesterday
He said the boat with five crew members comprising five local men and two Indonesian nationals, aged 15 to 59, was caught while trawling in waters close to the shore, a restricted area under the licence.
They also confiscated fishing gears and about 100kg of fish, which were brought to Bintulu Maritime Vessel Detention Centre for further action, he added.
The second boat with licence C2 was intercepted about 25.7 nautical miles off Tanjung Batu, Bintulu, at 4.20pm yesterday by Maritime Enforcement Agency (Miri), during an operation code-named ‘Operasi Khas Kuda Laut’.
The boat breached the conditions of the licence, which prohibits it from fishing within 30 nautical miles from the shore, Zin said.
Four crew members and a skipper, all Indonesian nationals aged 23 to 42 years old, were also detained to facilitate investigation, he said, adding that about 300kg of fish was also confiscated.
The boat was towed to Miri Zone Maritime Vessel Detention Centre for further action, he said.
“Both cases will be investigated for breaching their licences’ condition, an offence listed under Section 8(b) of Fisheries Act 1985,” Zin added.