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Stop lobbying govt to ease fishing moratorium, minister demands
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Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti looks at the photographer taking her picture, at the Presidential Palace on Nov. 5, 2015. (the jakarta post/Wienda Parwitasari)
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aritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti has called on foreign illegal fishers to stop lobbying Indonesian ministries and even the Presidential Palace to abolish the sinking policy imposed on poachers.
She reiterated that the harsh measure against illegal fishing had been approved by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, along with the moratorium on fishing licenses and law enforcement efforts against transshipment.
“I am begging and calling on them to simply invest here, as we have plenty of fish. Stop any efforts to make ministers fight against each other, and stop knocking on the Presidential Palace's door," Susi said at her office in Jakarta, as reported by kompas.com on Tuesday.
Even if the foreign entities lobbied the President the ministry would not back off from its goals, Susi said. The moratorium, she highlighted, had seen 1,132 fishing vessels owned by 187 foreign companies docked in the country.
Most of the vessels, 374, came from China, Susi said. Another 280 were from Thailand, 216 from Taiwan, 104 from Japan and the remaining 98 ships from the Philippines.
She said she suspected the owners of foreign ships were creating a smear campaign against her claiming that she was trying to de-industrialize the fisheries sector. “Please do not create false issues, nor incite me. If you do not agree with the policy, go file a lawsuit,” Susi said. (ags)
