• More than 2,000 pounds of fish, shark and eels were seized froma lancha boat in American waters. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1
More than 2,000 pounds of fish, shark and eels were seized froma lancha boat in American waters.
More than 2,000 pounds of fish, shark and eels were seized froma lancha boat in American waters.
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard

Nine eels, 24 sharks, and 187 red snappers were seized from a Mexican lancha boat crew caught poaching in U.S. waters off the Texas coast.

The Thursday morning interdiction near Corpus Christi netted more than 2,300 pounds of illegal catches, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Authorities seized the lancha boat, fish and fishing gear. The four Mexican fisherman aboard were detained and handed over the border enforcement agents for processing.

"Our crews do some amazing work in some very hard conditions ensuring this devastating illegal poaching by Mexican lancha crews does not go unchallenged," said Capt. Tony Hahn. "The Coast Guard will continue to challenge and interdict all the detrimental poaching on our waters to stem the critical depletion of our scarce fishery stocks."

Swift-moving lancha boats with outboard motors are a popular means of shipping illegal drugs, the Coast Guard said, though they're also often used for illegal fishing operations.

Since Sept. 1, the Corpus Christi-area Coast Guard has interdicted 15 lanchas in U.S. waters.

Most Popular