TANJUNG MANIS: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) personnel seized a local fishing boat and detained its skipper and six crew members for allegedly fishing outside the permitted zone on Monday (Mar 27).
MMEA Tanjung Manis Zone director Commander Gilbert Tinggak Numpang in a statement, said the arrest took place some 9.6 nautical miles off Tanjung Sirik, Daro around 1.25pm.
The fishing boat was suspected of fishing using a trawl, some three nautical miles from MMEA’s boat.
“During inspections, they found the boat was operated by seven crew members including its skipper – four locals and two Indonesians.
“All of them aged between 17 and 51, together with the boat, fishing equipment and 2,500kg of freshly caught fish, were escorted to the Tanjung Manis Jetty Terminal for further action,” he said.
Gilbert said the case will be investigated under Section 8(b) of the Fisheries Act 1985 for violating conditions of the licence, which may result in a compound from the Fisheries Department.
In this regard, he reminded the maritime community to comply with the law before carrying out any activity at sea.
They are also encouraged to channel information and complaints pertaining to suspicious activity or emergency at sea to the Bintulu Maritime Zone Maritime Operations Centre at 086-314254 and Sarawak Maritime Operations Centre at 082-432544.
