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RI detains China vessel
On guard: A Navy officer guards a Chinese fishing vessel after it was apprehended in the Malacca Strait, in Medan, North Sumatra, on Saturday
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span class="inline inline-center">On guard: A Navy officer guards a Chinese fishing vessel after it was apprehended in the Malacca Strait, in Medan, North Sumatra, on Saturday.(Antara/Septianda Perdana)
Indonesia’s tough stance against poaching has notched up another victory after the Navy detained a Chinese vessel, which was also on Interpol’s wanted list in Argentina, for illegal fishing, trade and slavery.
The Navy’s Western Fleet dispatched the KRI Viper-820 and KRI Pati Unus-384 battleships as well as the Casa U-618 spy plane to capture the FV Hua Li 8, operated by 25 Chinese nationals and four Indonesians, on Friday.
After receiving an alert on the Hua Li passing through the Malacca Strait on April 21, the Navy’s quick response team headed to the area to intercept the vessel, which has a weight of 1,275 gross tons and a length of 65 meters.
The ship was apprehended on Friday sailing in waters off eastern Aceh.
“All crew were detained at the Belawan Navy base [in North Sumatra] for further processing,” base commander Brig. Gen. Widodo Dwi Purwanto said on Saturday.
“We will coordinate with the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry’s illegal fishing prevention task force [Satgas 115] on the prosecution. There is a possibility that the ship can be sunk immediately,” he said.
The Hua Li is notorious in Latin America for poaching. Prior to entering Indonesian waters, it had been sighted operating in the Argentinean exclusive economic zone and was hunted by the country’s authorities on Feb. 29, according to the Navy.
Two Argentine coast guard vessels and a naval helicopter were dispatched to intercept the Hua Li to no avail.
It escaped and slipped into Uruguay without further trace. Argentina subsequently placed the Hua Li on the Interpol fugitive list, citing poaching, illegal trade and slavery.
It was not until Friday morning that the Belawan Navy base detected the Hua Li on its radar, while visual identification was confirmed at 2:25 p.m. local time. Fifteen minutes later, two battleships approached the vessel.
“The battleships fired warning shots to force the ship to stop as it ignored verbal and flag warnings,” said Capt. Yan Ahmadi, an officer involved in the hunt, adding that no fatalities occurred during the capture.
After an initial inspection, the Navy confiscated 102 tons of squid from the Hua Li, along with processing equipment that had enabled the crew to immediately process a catch into canned food.
“All catches are quickly canned to trick the authorities into believing that they are not fishing,” said Widodo.
“There is also evidence that the ship has been involved in transshipment activities, which is prohibited by the fisheries ministry,” he said.
The Hua Li is the second heavyweight poaching vessel apprehended by Indonesia based on Interpol information.
The Navy and the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry sank on March 14 the notorious FV Viking, an Antarctic toothfish vessel wanted by Interpol, and the last of the “Bandit 6” poachers.
The sinking was part of Indonesia’s role as a global player in the fight against illegal fishing, which has drawn ire from neighboring countries and China, Asia’s military powerhouse.
Indonesia accused China of obstructing law enforcement last month when two Chinese coast guard vessels intercepted Indonesian patrol boats towing a Chinese fishing boat caught operating illegally near Natuna Islands.
The Chinese coast guard vessels took the fishing boat from the much smaller Indonesian patrol boat, which had to settle for detaining the fishing boat’s eight-man crew.
The crew members are currently detained at an immigration detention center in Riau Islands. Beijing has called on Jakarta to release the group, arguing that they were operating in traditional Chinese fishing grounds.
Since taking office in October 2014, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration has sunk more than 170 foreign vessels, including one from China, while more than 700 others have been impounded.
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