Coast Guard crews interdicted two lanchas with Mexican fishermen illegally setting nets in U.S. waters on Thursday, seizing 480 pounds of red snapper.
Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi command center watchstanders received a notification from a Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi air crew of lancha crews engaged in illegal fishing approximately six miles north of the Maritime Boundary Line.
A Coast Guard 33-foot Special Purpose Craft–Law Enforcement crew launched while the Coast Guard Cutter Edgar Culbertson crew diverted to intercept the lanchas.
The special purpose crew and a 26-foot over-the-horizon cutter boat crew from the Culbertson arrived on scene and subsequently seized two lanchas with fishing gear, a GPS and a combined 480 pounds of red snapper.
The Coast Guard crews detained nine Mexican fishermen and transferred them to border enforcement agents for processing.
Lanchas are frequently used to transport illegal narcotics to the U.S. and illegally fish in the United States’ Exclusive Economic Zone near the U.S./Mexico border in the Gulf of Mexico.
Any person witnessing suspicious activity or illegal fishing out to 200 miles offshore is urged to contact the U.S. Coast Guard at 361-939-0450.
