REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia's Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Susi Pudjiastuti, said she wished that the 16 ships caught fishing illegally in the country recently, could have been immediately sunk.
"Sinking such boats is allowed under the fisheries law," she said here on Tuesday.
Based on Article 69, Paragraph 4 of Law Number 45, 2009 regarding revision of Law Number 31 of 2004 on fisheries, the law states, "...investigators and/or fisheries' supervisors could conduct special action in the form of burning and/or sinking the fishing boats carrying foreign flags, based on sufficient preliminary evidence."
The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, in cooperation with the navy, has seized 16 fishing ships poaching fish in the Indonesian waters.
"The boats are from Vietnam, the Philippines, and five boats flying Indonesian flags. The number excludes those seized by the police," Minister Susi said.
Of the 16 ships, nine were caught by the Directorate General of Marine Resources and Fisheries Surveillance while seven of them came from Vietnam, measuring 88-139 gross tonnage.
Two other ships were carrying Indonesian flags, and measured 11 and 23 GT because, although small, they carried poached fish.
The navy, meanwhile, has caught four Philippines' ships, measuring 14-54 GT, and three others measuring 33, 102 and 195 GT, respectively.
Minister Susi said she hoped that these ships could be sunk without having to wait for the court's ruling, as had happened before.
She, meanwhile, disclosed that the district court in Sabang, Aceh, has rejected the pre-trial suit, filed by the owner of Silver Sea 2 ship from Thailand.
"We must be grateful for this because (that means) rules were enforced according to the law," she said.
Several criminal charges would be pressed against the owner of Silver Sea 2, including taking fish outside the Indonesian territory without documents and conducting illegal trans-shipment.
The ship had also turned off its Vessel Monitoring System while sailing in the country's waters, she said.
"Pretrial suits will not affect Indonesia's spirit and we must continue to work hard to fight illegal fishing practices as a trans-national crime," she said.
Minister Susi said the government has written to the Thai government, strongly deploring the alleged illegal fishing activity that Silver Sea 2 indulged in.
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