France runs anti-illegal fishing operation in French Guiana

The Armed Forces in French Guiana (unfortunately abbreviated to FAG - Forces Armées en Guyane) recently conducted an operation titled Operation Mokarran, as part of an inter-ministerial effort to protect the country's fishing resources from foreign fishing vessels.

The mission mobilised an Antilles-Guyana patrol boat reinforced by a specialised unit in order to ward off any violence by fishermen towards the control forces, as well as a coastal maritime surveillance boat.

The objectives of fisheries police operations include identifying and controlling foreign vessels engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. During these checks, the visiting team apprehends fishing gear and seafood.

The diversion of the fishing vessel may also be ordered by the National Fisheries Monitoring Centre with a view to the destruction of the vessel, on the order of the Judge of Liberty and Detention of the Judicial Court of Cayenne.

During the operation, six vessels were checked and fined, two of which were diverted for destruction. Their nets, several kilometers long, were also seized.

FAG is tasked to guarantee France's sovereignty over this overseas territory. More than 2,100 military personnel are deployed daily to contribute to the stability of the permanent area of responsibility in the Caribbean.