Ship’s Captain Arrested For Illegal Fishing As Maltese Authorities Seize 500kg Of Fish And Equipment

A 29-year-old ship’s captain has been arrested and his vessel – and its contents – seized after he was allegedly fishing illegally in Maltese waters.

Police, together with the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and the Armed Forces of Malta was called to inspect a Tunisian fishing vessel after it docked at Xatt il-Barrieri.

Investigations carried out by the Police’s Environmental Protection Unit (EPU) established that the vessel did not have any license to fish in Maltese waters.

As a result, earlier this morning, the ship was taken to the Marsa Landing Facility.

The captain – a Tunisian man – was arrested by the police while the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture confiscated over 500kg of fish and fishing equipment.

With police investigations ongoing,  the captain is expected to appear to court in the coming days