ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia continues to intensify operations to eradicate fish thieves in Indonesia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Most recently, a team from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries arrested 1 foreign ship stealing fish with a Philippine flag in the Republic of Indonesia State Fisheries Management Area 716, precisely in the Sulawesi Sea.
This arrest was only a few days after the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries team also secured illegal FADs in the Indonesia-Philippine border waters.
Director General of Marine Resources and Fisheries Supervision, Rear Admiral TNI Dr. Adin Nurawaluddin, M.Han said that the arrest this time was carried out by the Marine and Shark Fisheries Monitoring Ship 15.
“Based on the incident report, this ship from the Philippines is suspected of fishing using a pump boat with hand line fishing gear in Sulawesi Sea waters without being equipped with valid licensing documents from the Indonesian government,” explained Adin, Monday, November 27 2023.
Adin mentioned that there was a ship called FB. C.A. AM 02 was initially detected by Shark Surveillance Ship 15 in the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone (ZEEI) at coordinates 04° 55.589’N-124°55.871’E, approximately 2 nautical miles from the Indonesia-Philippine EEZ boundary line, on Wednesday, November 22 2023 at around 17.17 Central Indonesian Time.
Shark Monitoring Ship 15 then gave chase until the ship was caught at coordinates 04°54.704’N-124°55.719’E, at 17.29 WITA. At the time of the inspection by officers, the ship was manned by 2 Filipino crew members carrying a cargo of ± 10 kilograms of dried lemang fish and ± 2 kilograms of dried squid.
“The trend we have seen recently is that the majority of foreign fishing vessels from the Philippines that we catch are carrying dried fish. “We are currently investigating this further, whether this is related to the existence of a new modus operandi,” explained Adin.
Adin added that the modus operandi usually carried out by pump boats from the Philippines is that they catch fish in the waters of the Sulawesi Sea which is not far from the Indonesian EEZ boundary line, then the catch is transported by transport ships in the border area.
Apart from the caught fish, officers also secured 4 units of Hand Line fishing equipment, 1 unit of Furuno GP-32 GPS navigation equipment, 1 unit of Uniden Pro 520 XL Radio communication equipment, and 1 Fisherman’s License.
The ship has now been escorted to the Tahuna Marine and Fisheries Resources Monitoring Base for further legal processing and the crew’s case files and case evidence have been handed over from the Captain of Shark Monitoring Ship 15 to the Tahuna Marine and Fisheries Resources Monitoring Fisheries Supervisor.
With the arrest of 1 foreign fishing vessel from the Philippines, currently the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has arrested 212 fishing vessels, consisting of 195 Indonesian fishing vessels that violated regulations and 16 foreign fishing vessels that carried out illegal fishing.
Of the 16 foreign fishing vessels, 8 vessels were Malaysian-flagged vessels, 7 Philippine-flagged vessels, and 1 Vietnamese-flagged vessel. (AT Network)
Check out other news and articles at Google News