Coast guard crew members aboard the cutter Edgar Culbertson interdicted a Mexican lancha fishing illegally in federal waters off the South Texas coast on Tuesday.
Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi command center watchstanders received a notification from U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel of four fishermen engaged in illegal fishing aboard a lancha approximately seven miles north of the Maritime Boundary Line.
The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Edgar Culbertson, homeported in Galveston, launched a 26-foot, over-the-horizon cutter boat crew and seized illegal fishing equipment and 40 sharks found aboard the lancha.
Coast Guard personnel detained the four fishermen and transferred them to border enforcement agents for processing.
Lanchas are 20- to 25-foot open fishing boats used in the poaching trade in U.S. and Texas waters. Lanchas also are frequently used to transport illegal narcotics to the U.S.
Anyone who witnesses suspicious activity or illegal fishing in state waters (out to nine miles offshore), please contact the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s “Operation Game Thief” at 1-800-792-GAME (4263).
For all suspicious activity or illegal fishing occurring in federal waters (out to 200 miles offshore), please contact the U.S. Coast Guard at 361-939-0450.
