INDONESIA INTENSIFIES FIGHT AGAINST ILLEGAL FISHING by Fardah

    Jakarta, April 26, 2014 (Antara) - Indonesia will never give up on efforts to combat the menace of illegal fishing on its territory as poaching activities wreak serious economic and environmental damage on the nation.

        The maritime affairs and fisheries ministry disclosed that the country was losing Rp101 trillion or US$ 8.8 million a year due to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities conducted in its waters.

        It also results in the Indonesian government losing revenue from foregone tax on fishery products and in fuel subsidy due to IUU fishing, the secretary to the maritime affairs and fisheries ministry's director general for supervision of fishery resources, Ida Kusuma Wardaningsih, stated recently.

        Besides, the local fishermen, especially those working as small scale communities, could not compete with illegal fishermen who usually deploy bigger ships to poach in Indonesian waters, she added.

         Another negative impact that illegal fishing has is the damage it does to Indonesia's environment, Ida pointed out.

        According the United Nations Environment Program, IUU fishing accounts for 30 percent of the world's fish catch, with illegal and unreported catches globally representing between 11 and 26 million tonnes. Globally, the IUU fishing costs an estimated 10-23.5 billion US dollars annually.

        The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has recognized that IUU fishing is a global threat to long-term sustainable fishing, particularly in developing countries.

       Speaking at the Global Oceans Action Summit held in The Hague on April 22, 2014, Árni M. Mathiesen, the FAO assistant director-general, said marine resources have been essential for world food security, and will continue to be even more so in the future.

        The FAO continues to work towards ushering in improvements in the field of fisheries, including providing better tools against IUU fishing by operationalizing global record keeping within the next two years, the FAO official said.

        At the Summit, Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister, Sharif Cicip Sutardjo, reaffirmed the country's commitment to fight against IUU fishing activities which are detrimental to the country's fisheries resources as well as its economy.

       "Indonesia welcomes and fully supports the recent declarations by the FAO, among others, to combat illegal fishing. The FAO has identified IUU fishing as a major impediment in achieving sustainable fishing globally," Minister Sutardjo, who led Indonesia's delegation during the Summit, said.

         He said combating IUU fishing, even within the national jurisdiction, was challenging, but was more so in areas falling outside the countries' exclusive economic zones.

         "There is no alternative than for countries to work together to deter and effectively reduce these destructive activities which continue to cause losses of billions of dollars to our economy," the minister stated.

        Indonesian waters occupy at least 70 percent of its national territory.  The country's economy traditionally depends on the oceans and their natural resources.

       Being one of the world's largest maritime countries with about 5.8 million square kilometers of marine territory, Indonesia has around 92,000 km-long beach and coastal areas.

        Safeguarding the vast water territories is not easy, particularly when there are not adequate facilities, such as enough number of water patrol boats. Despite some limitations in protecting its water territory, the Indonesian government is determined to fight against IUU fishing.

         According to the data from the ministry, from January to April 2014, the Indonesian water police had confiscated 16 ships involved in illegal fishing in Indonesian waters, out of which eight were Vietnam-flagged.

        Last January, the Batam Water Police took 61 Vietnamese fishermen into custody for illegally fishing in the waters of the Riau Island province.

        The Riau Islands provincial territory includes some areas of the South China Sea. For several years, fishermen from Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia frequented this area for illegal fishing.

         "On January 4, the fishermen were caught on board four big fishing vessels in the waters of the Anambas District. They entered the Riau Island waters through the South China Sea," the Commander of Bisma 8001 water patrol boat, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Sigit N. Hidayat, clarified.

        Vietnamese fishing ships have topped the list of fish poachers in the Indonesian waters over the past six years, according to the fishery and marine resource ministry.

         The director of surveillance ships of the ministry's directorate general of fishery and marine resources control, Budi Halomuan, said that 417 Vietnamese ships were seized during 2007-2014.

          He said the Vietnamese fishing ships came to South China Sea before entering the waters in Indonesia's maritime boundary in north Natuna.

         Most Vietnamese ships that were caught by surveillance ships had no legal documents for fishing in the country's waters and used trawlers, which were banned in Indonesia.

          The second-largest number of such ships that violated the Indonesian territorial waters came from Thailand.

          From 2007 to April 2014, the Directorate of Fishery and Marine Resources Control seized 103 Thai fishing ships, he said.

          The head of the Sub-Directorate of Logistics and Operations in Western Regions, Rahman Arief, meanwhile, said Thai fleets were more sophisticated and bigger, and frequently defy the orders issued by Indonesian patrol boats.

          He said the Indonesian patrol ships had also caught Malaysian fishing boats during that period.

           Illegal fishing by foreign ships had resulted in a loss to local fishermen. The annual fish catch in Natuna could potentially be about a million tons, he stated. ***2***
(f001/INE)
Edited by INE

(T.F001/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 26-04-2014 15:36:53