Foreign fishing vessel involved in IUU fishing intercepted

In a joint operation between the Seychelles Coast Guard, Seychelles Air Force and the Special Forces Boarding team, a Sri-Lankan Vessel was intercepted while being involved in suspected Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

On Sunday 09th June 2024, the Seychelles Coast Guard received a report from a local fishing vessel about a foreign vessel possibly involved in IUU fishing in the Southeast of Mahe.

Seychelles Air Force deployed its surveillance aircraft and was able to successfully identify the target vessel, which was around 94 nautical miles Southeast of Mahe.

From information relayed by SAF patrol aircraft, the Special Forces Boarding team on board SCGS Topaz successfully boarded the vessel on Monday 10th June 24. In their initial search, a substantial number of freshly caught sharks were discovered on board. There was a total of 06 personnel on board.

The vessel was escorted back to Mahe and subsequently handed over to local authorities for further investigation.