Live sharks seized from fishing boat

MIRI: A fishing boat with two tonnes of fish and 315 live sharks was detained off Miri in northern Sarawak.

Five Vietnamese fishermen, aged between 19 and 62, were arrested in an enforcement operation carried out by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) at about 6pm on Wednesday.

The crew and the boat have been towed to Pulau Melayu bay near Miri city.

MMEA Miri head Mohd Fauzi Othman said an enforcement patrol boat detected two fishing boats about 60 nautical miles offshore and upon checking found that one of the boats did not have a valid fishing permit.

A check on board the fishing vessel found the Vietnamese crew with 2,000kg of harvest plus 315 live sharks kept in several containers.

An initial probe showed the possibility that the boat had been going from Miri to Vietnam with the harvests.

Catch of the day: A shark being hauled from the boat. 

The crew is being probed for violating fisheries laws while the boat has been compounded.

Sarawak assistant tourism minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin said there was a possibility that a big number of sharks and whales were travelling past Miri during their annual migration from the northern to the southern hemisphere.

“There is a need for the marine authorities to carry out comprehensive studies on this and do more to protect these sharks and whales.

“These creatures must be protected from illegal fishermen.

“These sharks and whales offshore Miri are tourist-draws too,” he said.

Lee praised the maritime agency for its efforts to tackle illegal fishing activities in the seas off Sarawak.