GILL NET FLEET
The majority of illegal fishing activity we have observed is from approx 15 small commercial gillnet vessels. We have a record of these vessels operating almost daily in the SW waters of Hong Kong. When approached and documented up close these vessels stop their fishing activity and run for the border to evade HK law enforcement.
We produced a photo ID database with individual numbers for each of these gillnet boats and shared this database with both law enforcement agencies to ease in communications and identification by patrol vessels.
The Marine Police made several arrests of these vessels and they have only been sight rarely in recent patrols. As soon as sighted these vessels make a run for it.