In two separate incidents, Malaysian authorities this week have seized two Chinese trawlers for allegedly poaching from waters off its coast and recovered nearly 300 endangered turtles, mostly dead, from them.
A total of 17 crew members have been held for encroachment in this case.
Marine police officers first stopped a fishing trawler on Monday and recovered 70 green and hawksbill turtles, most of which were dead. Again on Wednesday, they nabbed another boat from China’s Hainan province near the coast of eastern Sabah state and this time they seized more than 200 protected green and hawksbill turtle species on board. Just about 20 turtles were alive by then, according to a report in The Star and the New Straits Times.
Marine Police Chief Sueb Abdullah was stunned by the double offence on part of the Chinese trawlers and said,
This is a serious offense. Not only have they encroached into our waters, they were catching internationally protected turtles.
Apart from the turtles, three live sharks and a shark skin were also recovered from the trawler on Wednesday.
