PETALING JAYA: Authorities are monitoring 28 Chinese fishing vessels that have been berthing at Tanjung Manis, Sarawak for the past two years without carrying out any fishing activities. According to The Borneo Post, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) chief First Admiral Ismaili Bujang Pit said what was also puzzling was that 21 of the 28 vessels, possessed local fishing licences. He added that only skeletal crews were seen on board these 21 ships. Ismaili also admitted that the presence of the 28 vessels was making the agency “uneasy” as they had no right to berth at Tanjung Manis for so long. “We neither want to over-react nor do we want to let down our guard. It is our responsibility to keep our waters safe as well as safeguard our country’s sovereignty,” Ismaili told the daily at his office at the MMEA complex in Kuching. As for the seven vessels that failed to produce local fishing licences, Ismaili noted they were newcomers and also did not carry out fishing activities. MMEA he added, was investigating them. Chinese fishing vessels have been making the news off late, albeit for the wrong reasons. Last month an Indonesian navy warship arrested a Chinese boat and seven Chinese crew members for fishing illegally in Indonesian territorial waters . In May it was reported that Indonesia’s navy fired shots at a Chinese trawler when it refused to stop fishing in Indonesian waters, and then seized the vessel and its eight crew members. In December last year, a photo of a vessel belonging to the Chinese Coast Guard at sea off the coast of Bintulu, Sarawak made the rounds on social media. However, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein denied that China’s coastal guards encroached into waters off Bintulu.