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Indonesia, Australia work together to safeguard maritime borders
The two countries are conducting Operation Gannet, a coordinated maritime patrol and information exchange exercise that aims to weed out illegal fishing and other types of organized transnational crime along their shared maritime border.
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Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) deputy director for policy and strategy Rear Adm. Tatit Witjaksono speaks at a virtual meeting with counterparts from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry and the Australian Border Force on May 25. (Courtest of Bakamla/-)
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ndonesia and Australia, which share one of the world's longest maritime borders, conducted joint maritime patrols this week under Operation Gannet in an effort to combat illegal activities at sea.
The three-day operation, which began on Monday, saw government agencies from both sides running coordinated patrols and exchanging information on maritime activities.
Officials from the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla), the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry’s marine and fisheries resources surveillance department (PDSKP) and the Australian Border Force (ABF) were involved.
This week’s operation was the fifth iteration of Operation Gannet, which implements provisions outlined in the countries’ Joint Declaration on Maritime Cooperation.
Speaking during the operation’s opening ceremony on Monday, PSDKP acting director general Antam Novambar said the two countries had to continue to work together to prevent transnational crimes, which included not only illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing but also the smuggling of people, environmental ruin and serious transnational organized crime that occurred in and around the joint operational area.
“We are in a position to continue strengthening our cooperation to resolve these problems,” Antam said.
This year alone, the maritime affairs ministry seized 92 fishing vessels operating illegally in Indonesian waters, 22 of which were flying foreign flags.
