Fisheries Department informed that marine police had handed over the case to the department last week. The fishing vessel has been detained at the marine police’s jetty here. The official told that they found a fishing net with mesh size more than six inches on board the seized vessel. Based on the type of fishing net found on board a Chinese vessel detained last year, such nets were used to catch turtles, informed the officer.
Last week marine police had detained the locally registered Vietnamese long-line fishing vessel after it was found violating the conditions of the licence issued to them. The authority has detained the fishing vessel while casting their net around Pulau Tiga, near Kuala Penyu.
It is said that checking the Vietnamese crew on board, police found that except for two, the other eight did not have any identification documents. The police informed that the vessel and crew had committed two serious offences, using illegal fishing gear and fishing inside the 30 nautical miles zone. The fishermen said they were suspicious about the activities of the Vietnamese fishing vessel and its crew, apart from posing a security to the country.
