The Indian Coast Guard carried out a successful anti-poaching operation in the Gulf of Mannar on Wednesday and apprehended the second Sri Lankan fishing boat "Dinuka Putha-6 (within a week along with six crew for fishing in Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the Indian Coast Guard officials said.
The ICG Ship Vajra detected a boat 117 nm South-East of Kanyakumari with fishing nets and intercepted the vessel which tried to run away.
Illegal fishing in Indian EEZ by Sri Lankan fishing boat in violation of MZI Act 1981. The boat was thoroughly rummaged by the boarding team of the ship.
On investigation, it was found that the boat had an Electronic chart display system and the crew were well aware of fishing in Indian EEZ. In addition, the Automatic identification system onboard was deliberately kept switched off.
Further investigation revealed that the boat had a Tuna long line in the water and was fishing well inside Indian EEZ. The boat had about 350Kgs of fish caught on board.
The fishing boat along with the six crew was apprehended by the ship and brought to the nearest designated port Tuticorin.
The Sri Lankan boat with the boarding party of ICG Ship arrived at Tuticorin's new fishing harbour on 17 March 17. An FIR against the Sri Lankan boat was registered and the boat along with its crew has been handed over to Marine police Tharuvaikulam, Tuticorin, the release said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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