By Sean Augustin

KUALA TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA: In what has been described as the first such incident in five years, four fishing trawlers were seized as their crew were unloading their catch into a cargo ship that was believed to be selling fish caught in Malaysian waters to Thailand.

The Thursday incident at 7.20am about 64 nautical miles off the Kuala Terengganu coast is one of the several unscrupulous methods that fishermen employ to make a quick buck by illegally selling fish to foreigners.

In their operations against the vessels, the Fisheries Department seized 1.5 tonnes of fish worth RM150,000 (S$62,700) and arrested 54 Thai nationals, 28 of whom were crew members of the trawlers from Kelantan.

The remaining Thais were manning the Terengganu-registered cargo ship.

State Fisheries Department director Munir Mohd Nawi revealed that the cargo vessel had a licence to operate in waters from Pulau Perhentian to Kuala Terengganu.

When the ships were raided, the cargo vessel was believed to be preparing to sell the newly purchased catch to markets along the Malaysian-Thai border.

It is an offence to sell fish caught in Malaysian waters to foreign markets without a licence.

"We had suspected that foreign trawlers and fishermen would transfer their catch to a bigger vessel which would then head to neighbouring countries.

"But until now, it was difficult to prove it," he said at the Chendering fish landing jetty here yesterday.

The fishermen from the four trawlers, aged between 20 and 45 years, will be charged under Section 8(b) of the Fisheries Act 1985 for contravening the conditions of their licence and for landing fish not at a designated area.

If convicted, they face a two-year maximum jail term and a fine of up to RM20,000.

The suspects from the cargo vessel will be handed over to the Marine Department for further action.

An hour before the arrest of the 54 Thai fishermen, officers on the same patrol arrested eight foreign fishermen who were trawling about 81.93 nautical miles from Kuala Terengganu, near an oil platform.

The eight included a local tekong (boat owner), three Thai nationals while the remaining were from Myanmar.

Authorities seized the trawler, registered in Songkhla, Thailand, as well as several barrels of fish, weighing 400kg believed to have been caught in Malaysian waters.

The suspects, aged between 15 and 60 years, will be charged under Section 15(1)(a) of the same act for fishing illegally in Malaysian waters.

If convicted, the tekong faces a maximum fine of RM1 million, while the crew can be fined up to RM100,000.

New Straits Times/Asia News Network