TAWAU: The Tawau Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (Maritim Malaysia) seized two local boats for suspected offences under the Fisheries Act and the Merchant Shipping Ordinance in separate incidents.
Tawau Maritime Zone Director, Maritime Captain Shahrizan Raman said action was taken during Ops Sejahtera and Ops Tiris patrols in district waters.
In the first case, a fishing boat was towing a net 1.5 nautical miles south of Batu Tinagat around 5.10pm.
“An inspection of the fishing boat found that a skipper and four Indonesian male crew members aged between 23 and 42 years old and having valid identification documents and work permits.
“However, further inspection found that the boat violated the legal conditions of the licence by carrying out trawling activities below the distance of two nautical miles from land,” he said.
The team’s second arrest occurred about an hour later when they confronted a cargo boat 1.5 nautical miles southwest of Tawau port.
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It was found carrying oil palm fruits from Sebatik Island to waters off Tinagat. A child together with two local men aged between 24 and 59 were operating the boat which had expired licence.
Both boats were taken to the Tawau Maritime Zone Jetty and handed over to be investigated under the Fisheries Act 1985 and the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952-MSO for violating the valid conditions of the licence.
All items, including both boats and cargo, estimated worth almost RM300,000 were seized.
Shahrizan advised the local maritime community to always be aware of the license conditions set.
