Foreign fishing boat captured 37 nautical miles off M. Atoll

The Maldivian Coastguard has captured a foreign fishing boat engaged in illegal fishing in the Maldives Exclusive Economic Zone.

Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) announced the boat was captured from 37 nautical miles off the eastern coast of M. Atoll on Friday.

There were six people on board the fishing boat.

MNDF has yet to disclose the nationality of the six people.

The foreign fishing boat was spotted and reported to the Coastguard by local fishing boats ‘Asaree’ and ‘Asuruma 2’.

MNDF thanked the local fishermen who reported the foreign fishing boat to the Coastguard, and expressed appreciation to the support of local fishermen in reporting similar sightings of foreign fishing boats in the Maldives Exclusive Economic Zone.