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ishermen in Demak, Central Java warmly welcomed the government'€™s move to intercept and sink illegal fishing vessels, but have voiced their complaints over recent fuel-price increases.

'€œThe sea is ours, so the resources should be ours. The illegal vessels must be expelled. However, we are currently impeded by the price of diesel fuel, which has increased. We request a special price for fishermen,'€ said Muazana, who owns two fishing boats in Morodemak, in a meeting on Tuesday.

Another fisherman, Musyafa, expressed similar concerns. '€œFuel prices have increased, but the price of fish has remained the same. At the end of the day, proceeds from today'€™s catch will only be enough to buy diesel. So, how much will my 20 crew members earn?'€ asked Musyafa.

The two, along with other fishermen attended the lunch meeting with officials from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.

The ministry'€™s fish catch director general, Gellwynn Jusuf, acknowledged that the increased prices of subsidized fuels had burdened small-scale fishing enterprises.

'€œThat'€™s why the government provides a fuel-quota allocation for fishermen and fishing enterprises. As a form of support for the policy, the Maritme Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has established cooperation with Bank BRI to develop fuel cards for fishermen as a way to control their fuel consumption,'€ said Gellwynn.

The fuel card is aimed at enabling fishermen to obtain subsidized fuel and ensure transparent distribution and minimize irregularities in distribution.

Meanwhile, the ministry'€™s secretary general, Sjarief Widjaja, said the firm stance was able to serve as a deterrent for foreign fishermen who illegal fished Indonesian waters. The number of illegal fishing boats operating in Indonesia has decreased since October.

 '€œThere were 35 foreign vessels that were intercepted but left Indonesian waters on their own,'€ said Sjarief.

The ministry is also impounding vessels on land to revitalize the coastal economy, such as trading at fish landing facilities (TPI) and fish curing by women.

The government has also banned trans-shipment, or the unloading of fish from fishing boats to freighters. '€œTrans-shipment could kill the coastal economy because the fish would be sold overseas,'€ he said.

The ministry is attempting to boost the welfare of fishermen by initiating various programs together with relevant ministries, institutions and banks, such as the 1,000 Independent, Beautiful and Advanced Fishing Settlements Integrated Program, or Sekaya Maritim.

'€œThe program will be carried out in stages next year by targeting 1,000 villages in 330 fishing ports and fishery centers in Indonesia, one of them being the Morodemak coast,'€ said Sjarief.