Libyan authorities opened fire on the Egyptian "Eagle of the East" fishing boat, owned by Farid Farfara of Kafr El-Sheikh governorate. The authorities detained 12 fishermen, four of whom were critically wounded.

Chief fisherman Ahmed Nassar said on Tuesday that the boat sailed from Salloum a week ago, but the motor broke and it was drifted towards Libyan territorial waters. He called on Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to intervene for the release of the fishermen.

Egyptian fishermen are often detained in the territorial waters of neighboring countries, as they frequently lack proper permits. Egypt’s natural fisheries have been in decline since the late 1990s. According to the General Authority for Fisheries Resources Development, the state agency responsible for managing Egypt’s fisheries, Mediterranean fishermen caught 81,000 tons of fish in 2009, a 10 percent decrease from the previous year.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm