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Foreign Ships Caught Fishing Illegally to be Fined up to Rp2 Billion
Thursday, 14 July, 2005 | 21:05 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Denpasar, Balia:The Indonesian government is to impose heavy punishments and fines of up to Rp2 billion on all foreign ships caught fishing illegally in Indonesian waters.

Indroyono Susilo, Head of the Ministry of Research and Technology’s maritime and fisheries research division, said on Wednesday (13/07) that this has already been stipulated in the Law on Maritime and Fisheries No.31/2004.

According to Susilo, this sort of punishment could reduce the amount of illegal fishing cases in Indonesian waters, which cost the state Rp2 trillion in losses per year.

“This amount is very high,” he told maritime experts from 13 countries at the Indonesian Ocean and Pacific Asian Marginal Seas/Japan Forum, held in Sanur, Bali.

The government will keep increasing efforts to combat illegal fishing committed by foreign ships.

Security personnel have already caught several foreign ships and their crews fishing illegally in Indonesia and some ships have even been sunk.

Indonesian Naval troops based in Dumai seized two Malaysian ships that were fishing illegally in Indonesian waters of.

The ships, with the numbers SLSA 2995 and SLSA 1898, were seized while spreading their nets in the waters off Rupat Island, Bengkalis, Riau

“This morning, the two ships were brought to Dumai Base by the Indonesian Naval ship Jemur.

The two Malaysian ships, along with their eight crew members, are now being detained for further investigation,” Dumai Navy Base commander Col. Alex A. Kekung told TEMPO on Wednesday (13/07).

According to Kekung, four other similar ships managed to escape into the waters of Malaysia.

“Four other ships had not yet had the time to spread their net and were positioned exactly on the border area,” he stated.

Susilo said that efforts to reduce illegal fishing activities must be carried out immediately and include all related aspects.

He added that his ministry has established an online registration system by using computer equipment sets the data security of which could be guaranteed.

According to Susilo, this system will enable the registration of ships that request permission to fish in particular areas within a two-week period.

This system is also capable of monitoring the movement of ships from transmitter placed on board ships.

This way, this system will be able to monitor any crimes that take place on these ships. (RILLA NUGRAHENI | JUPERNALIS-Tempo News Room)