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South Africa’s navy has impounded three foreign-owned fishing trawlers with about 100 crew on board on suspicion of illegal squid fishing.

“We found a total of 96 crew men on the three vessels and we also found squid that amounts to 600 tons of squid. There are also other fish species that were found on board,” Department of Fisheries spokesperson, Bomikazi Molapo, said on Monday.

The ships were spotted on May 20 having entered South Africa’s 200 nautical mile economic exclusion zone without permission.

Of the three vessels, Fu Yuan Yu 7880 and Fu Yang Yu 7881 are said to be Chinese, and Run Da 617 Indonesian.

None of the ships had permits to fish locally.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana issued a stern warning after the “capture” of the vessels that South Africa would no longer tolerate the plunder of its marine resources.

Meantime, the crew members have been detained on the ships, while the captains face fines and possible jail sentences if found guilty.

Globally, illegal fishing costs the industry about USD 23 billion each year, with one in four fish thought to be caught illegally in African waters.

In October, a court of law in Sao Tome and Principe, an African island country near the equator, convicted the captain of a vessel and two crew members on a number of charges, winning a key victory against illegal fishing by organised syndicates, according to Interpol. — PressTV