Published on: Thursday, March 29, 2007 |
The staggering number of Greenback and Hawksbill turtles - including about 20 that were alive - were recovered from the vessel, believed from Hainan, which marine police intercepted off Mengalum Island, about 50 nautical miles from the city.
The marine police, who were keeping surveillance under Ops Octopus, spotted the foreign vessel, with 17 crewmen, about 17.5 nautical miles from the island about 9.05am.
Just two days ago police pulled up a similar fishing vessel, also from Hainan, at Mantanani Kecil Island, off Kota Belud, and recovered 72 dead turtles of the same protected species.
Six turtles were rescued but one eventually died the following day.
At a press conference later, a disgusted Sabah Marine Police Chief, ACP Mohd Sueb Abdullah, pulled no punches when he told reporters exactly what he thought the penalty should be for the fishermen who poached the turtles.
"This is very serious (as) these turtles are protected speciesÉI call for those involved to be punished accordingly and heavily, as a consequence of their act," he said.
He said his men recovered 220 dead turtles, 19 turtle shells and about 20 turtles kept in the vessel's compartment, adding three live sharks were also found in another compartment.
"We believe the fishermen had been out at sea for about a month, prior to their arrest, but they could have only been in our waters for several days.
"We learned they moved between the waters of the country and the Philippine and Indonesian territories in that period," Mohd Sueb said, adding the police took about 30 minutes to stop the vessel.
The fishing vessel tried to escape when spotted by the police and attempted to ram the marine vessel when it crossed their path.
As a standard operating procedure, the marine police circled the boat several times before they discharged tear gas into the fishing boat, forcing the fishermen, aged between 20 and 40, to stand down, he said.
Mohd Sueb said police had expected foreign fishermen to enter Sabah waters for a few months in light of the prevailing calm weather.
He said they would seek assistance from their counterparts in the air wing unit to patrol the waters to spot illegal fishing boats.
