Indonesia vows to end illegal fishing, slavery in its waters
Indonesia’s new government, which came into power in October last year, is taking a very hard line with both illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) and slavery as part of its commitment to preserving the country’s marine resources and avoiding any illegal practices within its fisheries, according to Saut P Hutagalung, the Republic of Indonesia’s Director General for Fisheries Product Processing and Marketing at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF).
“Sustainability is part of the president’s vision,” Hutagalung told SeafoodSource at Seafood Expo Global. “This is not just a question of sustaining resources, this is also about how to sustain livelihoods, the fishing profession and the economies of our coastal communities.”
Since the Southeast Asian country’s president, Joko Widodo, announced a policy to combat IUU in November, a number of steps have been taken to “break down illegal fishing,” such as running checks on the larger domestic and foreign vessels and the co-operations that exist, said Hutagalung.
By the end of this month, MMAF will have details on the number of vessels operating in the country’s waters and the number that “need to be sent home,” and it is working closely with neighboring countries like Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines to enable this to happen.
Through its IUU crackdown, the Indonesian government recently discovered cases of slavery, involving some 2,257 foreign crewmembers. To date, 400 crew have been evacuated for their own safety to their home countries of Burma, Cambodia and Laos with the help of the International Organization for Migrants (IOM) and institutes of human rights. A new legal process is underway to deal with the rest.
“This really opened our eyes. But the government has reacted very quickly to tackle the problem.
The president created two task forces on 8 April, one for combating IUU fishing, the other to handle slavery issues, to escalate the seriousness of the problems," he said.
“Slavery shouldn’t happen anywhere, it’s against humanity and it’s totally unacceptable. Our government is very serious about ending it and IUU fishing.”
To ensure the process remains fully transparent and to alleviate concerns in the marketplace, Indonesian government officials have also approached the foreign embassies to show them “on the ground” how it is combating the situation, he said.
Indonesia vows to end illegal fishing, slavery in its waters - SeafoodSource.com
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3 Vietnamese illegal fishing boats captured on natuna water (24/4/15)
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5 Thailand Illegal fishing boats captured on Pejantan Water around Karimata strait (30/4/15)
KM Sudita 14 - 115 GT - 15 crews
KM Sudita 5 - 113 GT - 16 crews
KM Sudita 8 - 112 GT - 11 crews
KM Jala Mitra 081 - 112 GT - 18 crews
KM Sudita 13 - 108 GT - 18 crews
Indonesian navy nabs five Thai's illegal fishing vessels
A number of five vessels of illegal fishing in Indonesian seas was successfully seized by Vessel of Indonesia (KRI) from the Indonesian Fleet Command West Region (Koarmabar). Kapitan Pattimura 371, the name of KRI, caught five fishing vessels from Thailand around Karimata Strait.
"The vessel weighs 112 tons gross was not equipped with documents and contains approximately five tons of fish along with 11 crews," said the head of the Office of Information Koarmabar Marine Lt. Col. Ariris Miftachurrahman, Friday (1/5).
The arrest occurred on Thursday (30/4), yesterday. At that time, KRI Kapitan Pattimura conducting operations in the 15th Kretya Baruna Operation under command (BKO) of RI Maritime Security Forces Fleet Command, West Region (Guskamlaarmabar). The fifth ship was transporting fish caught from the waters around the Karimata Strait and not equipped with official documents.
In the first arrest, KRI Kapitan Pattimura managed to secure around KM Sudita 8 around Pejantan Island, within 47 nautical miles from Karimata Strait. Then, KRI Kapitan Pattimura backs for search around Pejantan Island. As a result, it had found KM Jala Mitra 081 with weigh around 112 Gross Tonnes (GT) and had contain five fish mixture without official documents. KM Jala Mitra 081 were manned by about 18 people.
Two hours after the arrest of KM Mitra Jala, KRI Kapitan Pattimura seized Sudita KM 14, which was fishing with a distance of 68 nautical miles from the Karimata Strait. The foreign fishing vessels (KIA) from Thailand did not have official documents and loaded three tons of fish. KM Sudita 14 manned by about 15 people with vessel weight reached 115 GT.
Furthermore, KRI Kapitan Pattimura-371 also secured Sudita KM 5 and KM Sudita 13. Both foreign fishing vessels have a total load of 25 tons of fish and have no official documents. If KM Sudita 5 weighs 113 GT and manned by 16 crew member, KM Sudita 13 has a weight of 108 GT and accommodates 16 crew members.
From the five ships, Koarmabar arrested 76 crew members and 43 tons of fish. Ariris added, those five illegal fishing vessels will be driven to Sea Base (Lanal) Pontianak, West Kalimantan.
"For further examination, the ships will be taken to the naval base Pontianak,"
Indonesian navy nabs five Thai's illegal fishing vessels | Republika Online