ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia has seized 16 FADs or pontoons which are suspected to have been installed illegally in the Republic of Indonesia State Fisheries Management Area 716, precisely in the waters of the Indonesia-Philippines border.
Securing illegal fishing aids is one of the efforts of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries to break the chain of illegal fishing, considering that the location where FADs are installed is prone to being an area for illegal fishing vessels to operate.
Director General of Marine Resources and Fisheries Supervision, Rear Admiral TNI Dr. Adin Nurawaluddin, M.Han explained that the sixteen FADs were secured by the operations team of the Maritime and Fisheries Monitoring Ship Orca 04 throughout October 2023. It is strongly suspected that these FADs were installed without permission in Indonesian waters by Filipino fishermen and entered around 2 nautical miles in the sea. Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone (ZEEI).
“The Orca 04 Surveillance Ship Team succeeded in controlling 16 FADs or pontoons which were suspected of being installed illegally in Indonesian waters because they were not equipped with identification marks and radar reflectors,” said Adin, Friday, November 24 2023.
Adin explained that in accordance with the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Regulation Number 18 of 2021 concerning the Placement of Fishing Equipment and Fishing Aids in the Fisheries Management Areas of the Republic of Indonesia and the High Seas and the Arrangement of Fishing Andons, each FAD must be equipped with a FAD identification tag and radar. reflector.
The FAD identification card contains information on the name of the owner, the number of the FAD Placement Permit and the coordinates of the center point (latitude and longitude) of the FAD placement location. Meanwhile, the radar reflector is installed on the surface so that it can be detected by radar.
“Illegal installation of FADs by fishermen from neighboring countries in border waters can clearly be detrimental to Indonesian fishermen, because it causes fish to only gather in the FAD area and not enter Indonesian waters,” said Adin.
Adin believes that the more illegal FADs installed on the Indonesia-Philippine border, the potential will divert the movement of tuna into national waters. If this is allowed to happen, small and traditional fishermen will become victims of losses.
For this reason, the termination of these illegal FADs is being intensively carried out so that tuna fish can return closer to the coast. For your information, FADs are a fishing aid that uses a type of lure or attractor made of solid objects to lure fish to gather at a certain point. FADs are used to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of fishing.
The Indonesian Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, through 5 Blue Economy policy programs is committed to prioritizing the welfare of traditional fishermen. This is also done through increasing supervision and adding a fleet of monitoring vessels, especially in border areas to eradicate illegal fishing activities. (AT Network)
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