Kampot’s provincial Fisheries Administration will fine 16 Vietnamese fishermen caught trawling illegally in Cambodian waters on Monday morning.

“They have to pay a fine at market price or double the market price of the evidence,” said Sar Sorin, a provincial FA official, citing Article 94 of Cambodia’s Fishery Law. In this case, he said, the evidence was the trawlers themselves.

According to Sorin, the men were intercepted by the Kampot Provincial Fisheries Administration as they were fishing illegally in Cambodian waters off Kampot province’s Teuk Chhou district.

During the operation, authorities seized three Vietnamese trawlers, Sorin said.

The fishermen will not be able to move their boats until the Fisheries Administration has made a decision as to the price of their fine. In the meantime, the fishermen are forbidden from coming ashore.

Upon paying the fine, they will be permitted to return to their homes in Vietnam’s Kien Giang province, Sorin said.

Lor Raksmei, spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries, could not be reached yesterday.