Kelantan MMEA Detains Two Local Fishing Boats For Flouting Licence Conditions

KOTA BHARU, Aug 20 (Bernama) -- The Kelantan branch of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained two local fishing vessels for flouting valid licence conditions in state waters.

Its director, Erwan Shah Soahdi said both boats were detained in separately by two Kelantan MMEA patrol boats conducting patrols in operations codenamed Op Naga Barat, Op Damai and Op Tiris.

"The first vessel was detained yesterday at about 10.45 am at approximately 18.4 nautical miles (nm) while anchored, while the second vessel was detained today at 1.30 am when anchored at a position 28 nm from the Tok Bali estuary.

"During the inspection of the first boat, the skipper failed to produce a valid licence for the vessel whereas the inspection on the second boat found the vessel to be in violation of the valid conditions of the licence because it engaged in squid fishing activities in less than the permitted distance, i.e. in an area less than 30 nm from the nearest land," he said in a statement today.

According to him, the first vessel had a 69-year-old crew member from Thailand whereas the second boat had seven crew members including a Vietnamese skipper, all aged between 19 and 59, all of whom were found to have valid identification documents and work passes.

Erwan Shah said both vessels were then escorted to the Kelantan Maritime jetty and handed over to investigating officers for further action.

-- BERNAMA