Tuesday, 30th June 2009 - 11:41CET
AFM patrol boat seizes Italian trawler in Maltese fishing zone
An AFM patrol boat late yesterday seized an Italian fishing boat allegedly found fishing illegally in the Maltese fishing zone. A number of other Italian boats cut their nets and headed out of the area as soon as the Maltese patrol boat arrived.
The incident took place after a report was received by the patrol boat about fishing on Hurd's Bank, south-east of Malta. The fishing boats were spotted by an AFM Islander aircraft.
The fishing boat Maria Salvatrice was intercepted some 19 miles off Delimara. AFM soldiers who boarded the vessel found boxes of fresh fish on board.
The fishing boat was escorted to Grand Harbour.
The incident is being widely reported on the Italian media, with the Mayor of the fishing village of Porto Palo claiming that the fishing boat was not conducting any illegal activity and was merely transiting the waters.
RSS
Comments
What we need is for the AFM to be employed in its proper role of securing our seas and not bringing illegal immigrants in Malta.
Any illegal immigrants that make it to Malta should be repatriated forthwith and not allowed to apply for refugee or humanitarian status as they have no right to do so according to the Refugee Convention itself.
All other illegal immigrants that are in Malta must be expelled.
I don't know about the Malta VMS, but the international one is working. However, for the system to work the ships must report their position so that tracing could be kept.
For the international version have a look at http://9h1av.topcities.com/hp.html scroll down and click on the link Vapuri - Ships
You can also go straight to http://9h1av.topcities.com/vapuri.html where you can see the ships anywhere you want.
The opening map is on Malta and you can zoom in, out, move right, left and if you hold down the left mouse button you can shift the area. If you place the cursor on the ship and other symbols it gives you the name of the ship, its speed and course.
If you click the left mouse button once on the ship symbol a small window will open on the same screen and it will give you further details about the ship. from the same window you can also track the particular ship. The map updates every 100 seconds.
By the way, all the square boxes many of them on hurd bank at 12 miles to the East are tankers.
The next step is to catch those Italian vessels that escaped and which where spotted by the AFM aircraft. Some time or another, they will approach the Maltese waters for duty free fuel, water or supplies. The Maltese Authorities should confiscate their vessels without return.
Once again, WELL DONE
I am sure Italian fishermen would rather see the AFM busy with illegal immigrants.
Our AFM are heros for all the work that they have done over the last five years, with such a poor pay. They did their duty to the full and now have more time to stop illegal fishing, once immigrants are being stopped at 14 miles out at sea, by the Italians, to defend THEIR national interest.
Thank God we have a police and army force that do their duty and work for our national interest, something that our politicians might care to copy, even after their huge pay rise.