Six Vietnamese fishermen caught for encroachment

SANDAKAN, Nov 3  -- The marine police have detained six Vietnamese fishermen and seized a fishing vessel for encroaching into Malaysian waters near Sungai Asam, near here.

Region 4 Sabah marine police commander ACP Mohamad Pajeri Ali said the crew, aged between 50 and 59, were arrested at about 7pm yesterday.

He said they did not have personal identification documents or a permit from the Malaysian Fisheries Department to fish in Malaysian waters.

 "A boat, a set of fishing equipment and 400kg of sea cucumber in several containers gathered from their fishing activities in Sabah waters were seized,” he said in a statement today.

Mohamad Pajeri said the seized goods were valued at RM610,000.

He said they were being investigated under Section 25(a) of the Fisheries Act 1985 for illegal fishing and Section 11(3)(b) of the same act for using unlicensed fishing equipment.

In KUALA TERENGGANU, Kemaman zone maritime director Maritime Commander Rashidilhadi Abd Rashid has warned Vietnamese fishermen not to use the monsoon season as an excuse to take shelter on islands around Terengganu.

He said that most of the time their real intention of going to these islands was to fish illegally.

“Usually in Terengganu, foreign fishing boats will go near these places, including Pulau Perhentian, Pulau Redang, Pulau Bidong and Pulau Tenggol. They would drop anchor around these islands and carry out illegal fishing during the monsoon season,” he told a press conference today.

He said the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency was wise to their tactic and would arrest those who encroached into Malaysian waters.

Rashidilhadi said the department had detained a Vietnamese fishing boat which was anchored 43 nautical miles off the Kuala Terengganu estuary at 2.30pm on Friday.

"The boat is believed to have been gathering the catch of other Vietnamese boats. It was not fishing then but had about five tonnes of fish,” he added.

The 15 crew members including the skipper, aged between 31 and 49, were arrested for not possessing valid documents.

-- BERNAMA