KOTA KINABALU, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) will be given more power to carry out maritime enforcement, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Ahmad Maslan said.

He said that at the moment a special committee headed by Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan was looking into the overlapping of duties involving MMEA and other agencies.

"The matter is being looked into in terms of the functions and responsibilities of agencies involved in maritime enforcement. But we will give more power to the MMEA," he said when asked to comment on the overlapping of duties between the agencies concerned.

Earlier Ahmad visited the Sabah MMEA headquarters here.

Meanwhile, he said the MMEA carried out 479 arrests nationwide involving local fishermen from January to Nov 17 this year.

The compound issued was RM535,900 while proceeds from auctions of seized items were RM193,408.

He said there were 132 cases involving foreign fishing vessels during the same period, with fine amounting to RM39.53 million.