Chinese crew await their trial

Some 249 Chinese crew members of eight trawlers who were arrested for alleged illegal fishing by the Maluku Police in the province's waters on Jan. 2 have been taken to Tual, Southeast Maluku, to stand trial at the Tual Fisheries Court.

After being detained for eight days at Tulehu Port, Central Maluku, the suspects were taken to Tual under a tight police escort, which included two patrol boats sent by the National Police headquarters.

Most of the suspects were transported aboard the passenger ship KM Ciremai, which is owned by state shipping line PT Pelni.

However, the Chinese skippers and engine operators of the eight trawlers were forced by the police to navigate the vessels to Tual.

Maluku Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Johanes Huwae told The Jakarta Post that hundreds of foreign nationals had been taken to Tual to stand trial.

"The 249 foreign crew members are alleged to have been involved in illegal fishing. They will be processed legally by investigators from the Southeast Maluku Police because court proceedings are set to be held in Tual," Huwae told the Post during a phone conversation Sunday.

Police boarded the vessels while they were attempting to transfer their catches to another ship in waters off the Aru Islands in the Arafura Sea, and found that none of the eight crew held fishing permits.

In the raid, police confiscated two deep-sea trawling nets and 600 tons of fish and shrimp as evidence.

"They were caught as they were loading their catch, estimated at 600 tons of fish and shrimp, onto KM Haturessy," Huwae said.

"They were neatly packed and ready to be exported to China."

Earlier, Aru Islands Regent Teddy Tengko said that illegal fishing in the Aru Sea, which was increasing at an alarming rate, had cost the state trillions of rupiah in losses.

"Data from the Fishery and Maritime Affairs Ministry in 2006, for example, indicates that only 400 out of 1,000 trawlers operating in the Aru Sea held permits," Tengko told the Post in Ambon on Saturday.

He said the authorities had often struggled to apprehend trawlers illegally operating in Indonesian waters because they often operated near to an international band of water between the Aru and Arafura seas, meaning they could quickly flee to international waters and evade capture.

Tengko said most of the illegal trawlers originated from China, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

He said the prevalence of illegal fishing in Aru waters was largely down to the fact that only two patrol boats operated in the region.

He said the central government must resolve the issue to prevent the country's resources from being stolen by foreign fishermen.

Meanwhile, Chinese crew member Chen Qinggui, 27, was found dead onboard one of the seized boats on Jan. 8.

Huwae, a crew member on the same vessel, said Chen had died in a fall while onboard the ship.

While in police custody, Huwaw was admitted to Tulehu Hospital after suffering an asthma attack.