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ndonesia, Southeast Asia'€™s largest fishing nation, has praised a plan by Thailand to monitor thousands of its fishing vessels with an automatic tracking system in an attempt to curb rampant illegal fishing in the region.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Soesilo said he had learned about the plan on Tuesday from Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tanasak Patimapragorn during a multilateral discussion held on the sidelines of the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference in Jakarta.

'€œThailand has shown a strong commitment to dealing with illegal fishing,'€ Indroyono said.

'€œThey are planning to monitor their fishing vessels with 7,000 vessel monitoring systems [VMS] or tracking systems in their fishing vessels, making sure that their vessels only fish legally.'€

The VMS is a satellite-based monitoring system that at regular intervals transmits data to the fisheries authorities on the location, course and speed of vessels.

Data from ASEAN show that four ASEAN countries '€” Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines '€” are among the world'€™s ten-largest fish producers. Combined, all 10 ASEAN members account for a quarter of global fish production.

In 2010, Indonesia'€™s total fisheries production reached 10.83 million tons, making it the largest fish producer in the region. The country, however, has recently been complaining of rampant illegal fishing in its waters, which the authorities claim to cause annual losses of Rp 300 trillion (US$23.1 billion) to the country.

Following his inauguration in October last year, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has stepped up measures to curb illegal fishing, including by sinking illegal fishing boats caught red-handed by the authorities.

It is estimated that there are over 5,000 illegal ships currently operating in Indonesian waters.

Last month, the Indonesian Navy arrested 22 Thai fishermen and three fishing vessels '€” MV Sensurdas 1, MV Sapsurada 1 and MV Sapsurada 2 '€” for fishing illegally in Natuna waters, Riau Islands.

'€œThe fishing vessels did not have the proper documentation to fish in Indonesian waters. They were also using trawls, which can destroy coral reefs,'€ Tanjung Pinang Main Naval Base commander Commodore Sulistiyanto said.

Tuesday'€™s discussion, which was attended by representatives of dozens of Asian and African countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Morocco, resulted in an agreement to support Goal 14 on oceans, seas and marine resources in the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expire at the end of this year.

'€œGoal 14 of the proposed SDGs is '€˜conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development'€™. Our discussion today concluded that all participating countries support and want to see this Goal 14 achieved and adopted,'€ Indroyono said.

In a speech read earlier on Monday during the Asian-African Ministerial Meeting, another event within the six-day program, Deputy Prime Minister Patimapragorn highlighted the importance for Asian and African countries to work together to achieve prosperity.

'€œOur combined potential is almost limitless and there are many opportunities before us, especially in the area of economic relations,'€ he said.