Coast Guard interdicts 4 lanchas over 3 day period

U.S. Coast Guard sent this bulletin at 02/14/2017 06:05 PM EST

united states coast guard 

 News Release  

Feb. 14, 2017
U.S. Coast Guard 8th District Public Affairs
Contact: Public Affairs Detachment Texas
Office: (281) 464-4810
After Hours: (832) 293-1293

Coast Guard interdicts 4 lanchas over 3 day period

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Coast Guard law enforcement crews were very active this weekend as they successfully detected and interdicted 4 Mexican lancha boats illegally fishing in federal waters off southern Texas.

A lancha is a Mexican fishing boat that is approximately 20-30 feet long with a slender profile, has one outboard motor, is capable of traveling at speeds exceeding 30 miles per hour, and is frequently used to fish illegally in the United States' Exclusive Economic Zone near the U.S./Mexico border.

Early on Saturday morning, Coast Guard crews stopped 2 lanchas in U.S. waters with a total of 8 Mexican fishermen engaged in illegal fishing. Both lanchas, 30 red snapper, one shark, and illegal fishing gear were seized.

Early on Monday morning, Coast Guard crews interdicted 2 more lanchas with 7 Mexican fishermen onboard.  After seizing both lanchas and fishing gear onboard, a Coast Guard cutter located and released 45 red snapper, three stingrays and two sharks trapped in over a mile of longline fishing gear that had just been deployed prior to the interdiction.

Throughout the entire weekend, a total of 15 Mexican nationals were detained and transferred to border enforcement agents. 

-USCG-