Five boats illegally fishing in PNG waters were captured by the PNG Defence force (PNGDF) and are awaiting prosecution.
A maritime surveillance involving Pacific island counties exercise known as Exercise Kurukuru nabbed the boats around the Dogleg area of the Western Province.
An officer with the PNGDF navy told PNG Loop the boats along with their crew were all from Thailand.
The officer said after they were caught, the fisherman tried to bribe the PNGDF navy officers to let them go.
He explained that all the boats did not have a vessel monitoring system (VMS) which meant any activity they carried out in PNG waters were illegal.
The boats and fisherman are now docked at Lanchron base in Port Moresby awaiting charges by the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) who has the power to prosecute them.
Source here
We may owe the people in the small boats better management of the people in the large boats.