KUCHING: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) last Wednesday detained two foreign fishing vessels and seized fish products weighing 2,000kg.
State MMEA director, First Admiral (Maritime) Ismaili Bujang Pit said the Vietnamese fishing vessels were detained by MMEA officers, about 115 nautical miles north Tanjung Po at 10.45am after receiving information that at least half a dozen of foreign vessels were found encroaching into Malaysian waters.
He said the remaining vessels managed to escape arrest by cruising along international waters after two of them were cornered by MMEA patrol vessel.
“15 crew members, including two skippers, aged between 19 and 47 years old have been detained. The case is being investigated under Fisheries Act 1985 for fishing illegally,” he said at a press conference at the Tun Abang Salahuddin Maritime Complex (Komtas) jetty in Muara Tebas, about 10km from here yesterday.
Ismaili said this year until the end of last month, MMEA detained 18 foreign boats from Vietnam for trespassing, compared with only 14 boats from the same country for the corresponding period last year.
Meanwhile, according to Bernama, at least two landing crafts are needed to strengthen security in the waters off Sarawak in efforts to effectively curb encroachment by foreign fishing boats in the country’s waters.
Ismaili said the landing craft would enable MMEA to improve enforcement measures and patrol farther, for longer periods at sea.
He said the landing craft would bring with it two ordinary ships and two speedboats together with oil supplies, food, drinks and the need for more staff to be in the middle of the ocean for weeks.
“In the current situation, in addition to routine patrols, our ship will arrive at the location only after receiving the complaint, and usually by that time most of the intruding vessels will have fled,” he said.
According to him, enforcement measures in the area need to be improved following the rise in encroachments of late, especially by fishermen from Vietnam.
Ismaili said two landing crafts were needed to patrol the Sarawak waters spanning 239,000 square kilometres, and he estimated a provision of about RM18.4 million was needed for acquiring the assets and handling their operations for a year.
