105 collared by MMEA for fisheries offences in Malaysian waters

Some of the crew members who were arrested and sent to Tanjung Manis for investigation.

KUCHING: The crew of a foreign vessel and eight local fishing trawlers (Class 2) were nabbed by Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) 0.6 nautical miles from Tanjung Manis at 1.15pm on June 15.

State MMEA director First Admiral Ismaili Pit said the arrests were made when the crew of the eight local fishing trawlers were caught transferring 200 metric tonnes of fish to the foreign vessel without permit from the Sarawak Fisheries Department.

“All the 105 crew aged between 16 and 55 years were arrested and brought to Tanjung Manis for further investigation. The case is being investigated under the Fisheries Act 1985, Customs Act and the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952,” said Ismaili to reporters at the MMEA Tun Abang Salahuddin Maritime Complex (Komtas) in Muara Tebas near here yesterday.

He also revealed that the captain of the foreign vessel failed to produce any document to enter Malaysian waters. There was also no document stating vessel ‘Vor Sahamongkol’ as a cargo ship to officially transport sea goods.

On another matter, he said so far this year, MMEA Sarawak had conducted checks on 1,738 vessels, out of which 58 arrests were made.

“Five cases involved illegal foreign crews, 15 cases on breaching sea permission, 10 cases on the Customs Act, one case on the Control Items Act and 22 cases on the Merchant Shipping Ordinance.”

Ismaili points to the spot where the foreign vessel and eight local fishing trawlers were stopped on Sunday.

On a separate matter, Ismaili said Vietnam national skipper Thai Van Tanh, 35, was fined a total of RM510,000, in default three months imprisonment, by the Sessions Court here yesterday for fishing in Malaysian waterways illegally and for giving bribes.

Thai was also convicted for offering bribe to one personnel with the rank of a lieutenant. He offered RM1,900 as an inducement not to take action against them when an arrest was made. These offences were committed around 6.21am on March 31 this year at 165 miles nautical from Tanjung Po coastline.

Apart from that, 16 other crews who were detained together with him also pleaded guilty to the charge under the Fishery Act. They were fined RM100,000, in default three months jail each. They could not settle the fine, so they had to serve the default imprisonment sentence.

APMM urges the public to alert them by calling their hotline 082-432544 should they stumble upon suspicious activities.