The Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Sharif C. Sutardjo, reaffirms that MMAF will never compromise in fighting the illegal fishing conducted on the Indonesian waters. Up to April 2014, MMAF has captured 16 boats allegedly conducted illegal fishing. Half of the figures were the foreign, vietnam-flagged boats, while the rest were the Indonesian ones. "I highly appreciate the success of the MMAF's surveillance fleet in intercepting the illegal fishing. Besides, it's proven that the illegal fishing conducted by the foreign boats on the Indonesian waters has still been high," said the Minister.
Mr. Sutardjo continued that the illegal fishing activity puts a great detrimental burden to Indonesia, because it will potentially threaten the sustainability of the marine and fishery management in Indonesia. "It should be considered an extraordinary crime given it will do great harm to the socio-economy sectors, particularly the local fishermen," he asserted.In addition to the illegal fishing, the destructive fishing methods such as the use of explosive or potassium toxic will not only ruin the nature itself, but only create a monstrous menace to the livelihood of the fishermen. "We therefore urge all the element of community to raise the awareness to the marine and fishery preservation," said Mr. Sharif.
The Routine Surveillance OperationIn the meantime, the Director General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Surveillance, Syahrin Abdurrahman, explained that the detainment of 5 foreign boats is due to the routine surveillance operation conducted by the DG-MFRS. After passing a number of strict inspections, and proven that they had committed the territory infringement, all of them were then taken to the Natuna MFRS Task Force to undergo the investigation and the detainment. The interception was undertaken by the patrol boat Hiu Macan Tutul 002 intercepting four fishing boats; BV 5038 TS, BV 5021 TS, BV 4857 TS, and BV 0936 TS. While another patrol boat, Hiu macan 001, caught a fishing boat with the hull code BTH 96565 TS. "All those five boats having an average size of ±100 GT conducted the fishing activity on the Indonesian water territory without the legal documents on the fishing activity permitted by the Indonesian Government. It didn't stop there, they also fished using pair trawl," he explained.
Syahrin concluded, "The illegal fishing evidently threaten the livelihood of the local fishermen and the sustainability of the marine and fishery. Therefore, we wholeheartedly appreciate the Regency Government of Natuna that puts a great concern to the illegal fishing eradication, which is also a booster for us, the central government, to increase the effort of the ilegal fishing eradication nationally."
For more information, please contact:
Anang Noegroho
Head of Statistic and Data Center
The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries
+62-21-351-9070
Editor: PR Wire
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
