Five  Malaysian -registered fishing vessels with 36 Vietnamese crew have been detained for illegal fishing in Labuan waters.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Labuan commander Che Adnan Md Isa said the vessels were detained at about 11pm Saturday, some 10 nautical miles from the popular fishing site of Semerang and 26.6 nautical miles northeast of Tg Kubong, Labuan.

“During the patrol operation, one of our maritime vessels located the positions and subsequently inspected the  boats,” he said at a press conference today.

“Upon inspection, all the crew in the fishing boats failed to produce valid travel documents besides not having an official written permit to fish in Malaysian waters,” he added.

The case is being investigated under the Fisheries Act 1985.

Che Adnan said the MMEA welcomes information from the maritime community to report on any unlawful activities directly to its  Labuan Maritime Operations office at Jalan Rancha-Rancha or contact its operations room at 087-427999.

- Bernama