During a speech on Thursday to navy personnel and government dignitaries, Major General Lere Anan Timur called for immediate support to take action against a Chinese owned fishing fleet operating unmonitored in the south Timor Sea.

“There are many illegal fishing operations happening in the Timor Sea,” Lere said, warning, “if we don’t pay attention to them they will steal all our riches.”

The comments come as a fleet of 15 Chinese fishing vessels run by Pingtan Marine Enterprise continue to fish in the Timor Sea.

Pingtan was awarded a 12-month permit last November to operate in Timor-Leste for a modest fee of just US$312,450.

Since it started fishing environmentalists have documented catches of protected whale, shark, rays and turtles on board the boats.

Pingtan was banned from Indonesian waters in 2015 and threatened with court action for alleged theft of fish.

In February the Timor-Leste government released a statement saying it had made a “routine inspection” on the boats and had “revealed the vessels were carrying an estimated 43 ton of shark, potentially contravening Timor-Leste’s law and the terms of the fishing license granted by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.”

The inspection was carried out between the 9-12 February by the National Directorate of Fisheries on all 15 vessels in the Port of Caravela, Baucau.

“The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries has the exclusive competence under Timor-Leste’s law to take these further actions which may include fines and/or the suspension or revocation of a fishing license,” the statement said.

 The fishing vessels continue to operate.