KUCHING: The Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Offshore Patrol Vessel 1 (OPV1) intercepted two Vietnamese foreign fishing vessels about 210 nautical miles northwest of Mukah yesterday (Feb 4).
Sarawak Maritime director First Admiral Zin Azman Md Yunus said MMEA made its maiden arrest between 10.45 am and 11.15 am, detaining both fishing vessels which were engaged in illegal fishing activities.
“MMEA estimates the fish catch to be worth more than RM3 million.
“This case will be investigated under Section 15(1)(a) of the Fisheries Act 1985 for catching fish or attempting to catch fish without the permission of the director-general of the Malaysian Fisheries Department, and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 for failing to produce any documents valid identification,” he said in a statement yesterday (Feb 4).
The two vessels were escorted to the Sarawak Maritime Jetty and are expected to arrive tomorrow (Feb 6) for further investigation.
Following this, he said that MMEA Sarawak will increase patrols and surveillance from time to time to curb any activity that violates maritime law in Sarawak’s waters.
He urged the public to cooperate by channeling any information related to criminal activities in Malaysian waters to the Sarawak Malaysian Maritime operations centre at 082-432544 or MERS 999 which operates 24 hours for immediate action.
