Spanish fishermen admit fishing in Maltese waters

@Jeff Rogers. You have completely misunderstood what I wrote. May I invite you to read again.

@Igalea - This time I might be misunderstanding you. But when you write that "not only should all the catch have been confiscated, but that they should have also be fined" I do not quite understand you, because they were fined €28,000 according to this article.

The gist here is, we do not mix emotions with sentences. Otherwise the judical system will implode. They broke the law and stole our "Natural resource" you write. (While I am not sure that fish can be defined as natural resource since they may swim in and out of our territory as they please) Theygot a hefty fine. Does confiscating their means of earning a living make you feel better ?

A.Dalli
They are humans but they are thieves because they came here all the way from Spain to steal OUR natural resources.

I reiterate that not only should all the catch have been confiscated, but that they should have also been fined. That is the only way to protect OUR natural resources, by making it not worthwhile to steal them.

@ Uwejja:A.Dalli . i read your comment but i do not agree completely as a matter of fact these guys regardless of them being spainish doesen't mean a thing the fact remains is that they were caught poaching in Maltese waters and that is me ol'sunshine is stealing from you as a maltese i presume right? fair play they have families but so do many Maltese they too got families and charity the way i see it begins at home,which brings me to point (2) you said that their traweller should NOT be confiscated and also mentioned parking fine, well you are wrong because not long ago the ADT in Malta snatched 390 foreign cars and are now in compound locked up (Please See) www.personallyyours.co.uk/number-plate-news/malta12082008.html ... these are cars registered outside Malta and were found to be untaxed or the taxed has expired from the country of origin. now you tell me????? what is a fair dos and what isn't fair? these car owners were also breaking the law of Malta and so are these Spaniards.. lets play the white man here whats good for one is good for the gander. Good day Sir. No disrespect to you.

Uwejja, boat confiscated ! You don't want them to be hanged as well hux ? Come on guys, these are humans like you and me, probably with children and wives to feed. Do you hand on heart want to confiscate the boat they earn a living from ? Yes, I'll be the first to admit they broke the law, but let us keep everything into perspective here. €28K is not exactly a smallish fine. Ok so the next time one you gets fined some €12 for parking illegally, don't moan but rather say, oh its only so and so % of my wage.

My point is, just because these are Spaniards, does not mean we have to be cruel. I find the comments written down to be rather un-christian or definately not morally correct. They broke the law and they got fined for it. That's that.

Well done again AFM...., but boat must be confiscated.
I agree with MrGalea comment.

I question........are the fines being invested to make up for the lost environment or fauna?? I mean research and protection .......or at the end of the day they will return in some people pockets simply as wages.

If I remember correctly the figure which was spoken on the media yesterday, the cargo was worth about a quarter of a million euros, so what they were fined was simply 10% of their catch.

And so they should be-good job too, they would have done exactly the same had it been our lot. I would have confiscated their boat too if need be.

Well done AFM. Continue with this good work for the benefit of Malta!