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Indonesia praised for access to fishing data
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Sea harvest: Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti attends the celebration of the 44th anniversary of the Indonesian Fishermen's Association (HNSI) on Depok beach in Bantul, Yogyakarta, on May 21. (Antara/Hendra Nurdiyansyah)
H
ollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio and the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti have two things in common: They are famous for their strong roles in the shipping scene and are deeply in love with the marine world.
Their “love story” heated up on Thursday at the United Nations General Assembly Hall — where the world’s policy makers in marine affairs were commemorating World Oceans Day, with the Titanic movie star praising Susi for her latest actions against illegal fishing.
“Fisheries Minister Susi ramped up monitoring efforts and is leading the way to the new era of transparency in fisheries management by making Indonesia’s vessels monitoring system [VMS] data viable to the Global Fishing Watch [GFW] platform,” he said in a video played at the UN Ocean Conference.
With Susi’s move, Indonesia becomes the first nation to allow the public dissemination of their proprietary VMS data, revealing commercial fishing in vast areas of the ocean where it had previously been invisible to the public.
“This is exactly the type of bold and elevated leadership that we need more all around the world,” DiCaprio said.
The “God’s eye view of fishing activities” project, funded partly by the UN Messenger of Peace through the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, was built by American multinational technology company Google in cooperation with Oceana and SkyTruth.
It provides two types of monitoring information: general data for the public and more detailed information — including the identity of ships and their tonnage — for authorities for law enforcement and legal purposes.
