The crew onboard two Chinese flagged ships that were recently detained in Vanuatu remain in COVID-19 quarantine but local police say they are expecting to charge them soon.
The crew are suspected of harvesting sea cucumbers illegally in Vanuatu's northern waters.
ABC News reports the case follows another in Palau last month, where authorities also detained a Chinese fishing vessel and its crew, who'd also alleged to have been harvesting sea cucumbers illegally.
Jason Simon was a crew member aboard RVS Tukoro, Vanuatu's patrol boat, when the ships were detained off the coast of the Banks group of islands to Vanuatu's north.
"When we checked the papers of the ships, some of the papers weren't right and they didn't comply to certain laws,"
"So we escorted all of them to shore to Luganville," Mr Simon said.
The ships were then taken to Port Vila, where their crew and captain were taken by police to quarantine facilities.
Senior Sergeant Qarangi with Vanuatu police says authorities expect to lay charges once the quarantine period is complete.
He believes COVID-19 has meant authorities are on high-alert for potential breaches of Vanuatu's borders.
"We all are afraid about foreign vessels coming into Vanuatu because of COVID," Sergeant Qarangi said.
"People were very happy these two vessels were caught and escorted to [Port] Vila, because we are all afraid of COVID."
But it can be hard for Pacific nations to police their expansive waters and valuable fisheries, it's been made harder by the pandemic.
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission decided to temporarily suspend the use of fishery observers last March, trying to limit the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Pacific.
But it's a decision that the Fisheries Commission's executive director Feleti Teo has admitted has "significantly affected routine monitoring at sea".
Pierre-Jean Bordahandy is a maritime law expert from the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu, and said the lack of observers may lead to an "incentive" for vessels to exceed their catchments.
But he doubts COVID-19 has led to an increase in illegal fishing.
In this most recent case, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission says one of the ships detained actually has a licence to legally harvest sea cucumber in Vanuatu.
So Mr Bordahandy says it appears the ships may have overharvested the delicacy, also known as beche de mer, and that may be why it was detained.
"It suggests that this vessel probably had a fishing license to fish in Vanuatu waters," he said.
"Beche de mer are extremely important for the the health of the waters because they act as filters ... So it's a serious problem"
But either way, he sees last week's arrest as a promising sign, that despite the obstacles, Pacific governments may be more willing to detain foreign ships they suspect are fishing illegally in their waters.
"It shows that they are willing to do something," he said.
"But as I said, Vanuatu government is definitely going to face some limitations."