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Illegal fishing fleets face stiffer sanctions
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad has pledged to take sterner measures against foreign-flagged vessels for failing to possess fishing permits to combat illegal fishing in Indonesian waters
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aritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad has pledged to take sterner measures against foreign-flagged vessels for failing to possess fishing permits to combat illegal fishing in Indonesian waters.
Fadel accused a number of foreign-flagged vessels currently operating in Indonesian seas of having no valid fishing permits or falsifying the names on the documents.
“We will check their documents and report directly to the National Police,” Fadel was quoted as saying by news portal tempointeraktif.com on a working visit to Bali on Saturday.
He said his office had received reports of foreign vessels operating without proper documents including in Bali and East Java.
“Their activities disturb traditional fishermen. We need to take action so small-scale local fishermen can continue with their livelihoods,” he said.
Indonesia has long been a magnet for illegal fishing fleets due to poor law enforcement and the lack of patrol boats.
Fadel said the country needed to improve its fleet’s technology to ensure effective monitoring to combat illegal fishing.
Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro had earlier also requested the House of Representative to allocate a further Rp 6 trillion to procure 96 patrol vessels, citing the need to prevent illegal fishing in Indonesia.
The ministry said the country needed at least 120 patrol vessels to combat illegal fishing.
Illegal fishing in Indonesian, done by fishing boats that operate without fishing permits, cause financial losses to the government as they do not report their catch, nor pay the taxes they owe the government.
The government has long complained of the lack of funds with which to improve monitoring activities.
Most regional marine authorities only have speedboats available to monitor coastal waters and are unable to explore deeper.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry data showed the country caught 186 foreign vessels illegally fishing in Indonesian in 2008, compared to 184 the previous year.
Fadel was in Bali to launch the issuing of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) sticker, mandatory for all Indonesian tuna-fishing vessels.
Indonesia, the 27th member of IOTC, paid Rp 2 billion in annual membership fees to the organization.
There are 874 Indonesian tuna-fishing boats including 871 long-line ships that are allowed to operate in the Indian Ocean.
“The IOTC sticker is needed to allow Indonesia to export its catch to the EU,” Fadel said.
The People’s Coalition for Equal Fisheries (Kiara) said Indonesia’s fisheries potential had been slashed by 30 to 50 percent per year due to illegal fishing.
Fadel’s ministry said the country’s fisheries output reached 8.71 million tons in 2008, a slight drop from 8.24 million tons the year before.
