RI, Australia agree on joint sea patrols

Erwida Maulia ,  THE JAKARTA POST ,  JAKARTA   |  Mon, 03/23/2009 10:51 AM  |  National

Indonesia and Australia have agreed to campaign together against poaching and to conduct a joint sea patrol around their maritime territorial boundaries in the eastern part of Indonesia’s waters.

During the sixth meeting of the Working Group on Marine and Fisheries (WGMAF) Indonesia-Australia in Nusa Dua, Bali last week, the two countries reached an agreement to jointly combat illegal fisheries.

The two neighboring nations  met several times to discuss poaching issues before reaching this final agreement.

“In dealing with poaching, both countries have agreed to develop campaigns against poaching in eastern Indonesia,” head of Indonesia’s delegation to the meeting, Suseno Sukoyono from Indonesia’s Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, was quoted as saying by Antara news agency on Sunday.

”We’ve also agreed to conduct a joint patrol on the maritime boundaries between the two countries,” he added.

In a press statement sent to The Jakarta Post, ministry spokesman Soen’an H. Poernomo said the two-day meeting, concluded last Friday, agreed that Australia and Indonesia would intensify supervision via a number of cooperation measures  to tackle these problems.

This includes better coordinated sea patrols, data and information exchanges, and reciprocal visits by Indonesian and Australian patrol vessels to the two countries’ territories.

Cooperation would also  include improving human resources’ capacities through access to Australian training, education, and technical support for Indonesian patrol vessels.

Suseno said practical measures under the agreement would include a plan to organize training for registered fishermen to utilize specific radio frequencies for maritime communications.

Indonesia and Australia have  also agreed to documentation and observation systems for tuna and red snapper fisheries, as well as to take steps to safeguard reserves of these species in Indonesia’s eastern seas.

They will organize joint workshops on this matter in their border areas.

The two countries, however, have yet to reach an agreement on the definition of traditional fishing. While Indonesia dubs many of its fishermen as traditional fishermen, Australia does not recognize the term, according to Suseno.

For example, he cited old fishermen from Rote Island in East Nusa Tenggara, who dubbed Pasir Island or Ashmore Island, located to the South of the province’s Ndana Island, as their traditional fishing area. Pasir Island is rich in sea cucumbers and shrimps.

The two countries, however, have in this case a maritime boundary agreement which includes an island in Australia’s territorial sea.

Suseno said this resulted in an unfavorable situation for Indonesia, many of whose traditional fishermen had been apprehended by Australia’s sea patrol personnel.

“We see here conflicting interests between traditional fishermen who only want to make a little money to eat and the  sovereign law enforcement of another country.”  

Suseno said the two countries would specifically discuss the issue in another meeting in Surabaya, East Java, in May. The sixth WGMAF took place on March 19-20. It followed up on to the 5th meeting hosted by Canberra in 2007.


They will organize joint workshops on this issue in their border areas.

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