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aritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti has called on the international community to recognize the practice of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as a form of transnational organized crime (TOC).

Susi said the recognition would ensure governments had better access to the tools needed to implement cooperation initiatives leading to the eventual eradication of IUU fishing.

According to the minister, it is high time the world acknowledged that IUU fishing practices are often used as a vehicle for other extraordinary crimes.

She said the IUU fishing prevention task force had discovered this after conducting an 11-month compliance audit on large foreign-built fishing vessels registered in the country.

'€œDuring the Anev [analysis and evaluation audit] we found out that fisheries crime isn'€™t only about stealing fish, but about many other crimes that use IUU fishing as a vehicle,'€ Susi said during her keynote speech at the Second International Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Conference in Singapore, on Monday.

She revealed that 80 percent of the large-scale drug rings that had been broken in the country involved the use of fishing vessels and that large cargo ships were often used for human trafficking and exporting endangered species.

'€œIUU fishing distorts good governance and jeopardizes economic growth,'€ she claimed.

Since the beginning of her tenure as minister, Susi has taken drastic measures to reform Indonesia'€™s fisheries sector. She has introduced a moratorium on all foreign-built fishing vessels, enabling the ministry to review 1,132 fishing permits and ascertain whether they are subject to misuse.

The audit found that all 1,132 fishing vessels had in some way violated the applicable laws and regulations, with the most common violation being license duplication.

As a result, the ministry has revoked 291 permits, suspended 61 and issued notices for another 95 licenses.

Susi spoke at Monday'€™s conference, hosted by Interpol and the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), to get like-minded countries to endorse her cause in recognizing IUU fishing as a TOC and raise awareness about the link between fisheries crime and other related crimes.

She pledged to promote the initiative at other international and regional forums, including ASEAN and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).

On the sidelines of the conference, Susi secured the support of South Africa in a bilateral meeting with South African Environmental Affairs Minister Bomo Edna Molewa, adding that she would continue to urge other states to join the cause.

As the new chair of the IORA, Indonesia has the opportunity to further its ambitious maritime axis plan by becoming the leading proponent of maritime safety and security.

Separately, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Ono Surono from House of Representatives Commission IV overseeing forestry and fisheries supported Susi'€™s bid to have the international community recognize IUU fishing as a transnational crime.

Ono urged Susi to speak with countries whose fishing vessels and seamen were guilty of IUU fishing practices, such as China, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.

'€œIf possible, an anti-IUU fishing task force should be formed comprising Indonesia and states that share the country'€™s borders,'€ he told the The Jakarta Post.
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