REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia's task force to check Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing held its first coordinating meeting at the maritime affairs and fisheries ministry here on Monday.

The meeting was presided over by Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti in her capacity as the Commander of the IUU Fishing task force.

The task force was established based on the presidential regulation No. 115 for the Year 2015, appointing Minister Pudjiastuti as the chief, and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Navy as the executive chairman.

The head of maritime security agency (Bakamla), the head of the Security Maintenance Agency (Baharkam) of the National Police and the general crime attorney are the task force's deputy executive chairmen.

The new body has the authority to coordinate the efforts among various institutions in the fight against illegal fishing activities that have inflicted losses worth Rp300 trillion annually on the state.

An NGO, the People's Coalition for Fishery Justice (Kiara), criticized the government's decision to establish the task force, saying that its task overlaps with that of some existing similar agencies.

Kiara Secretary General Abdul Jalim said in Jakarta on October 26 that the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister's authority, as stated in the presidential regulation on the task force, overlaps with the jurisdiction of other institutions.

If the government wanted to lay more emphasis on the effectiveness and efficiency of law enforcement in maritime territories, it should have harmonized the existing regulations first, he said.

At least four regulations have been overruled by the presidential regulation No. 115/2015 on the IUU Fishing Task Force, according to Kiara.

The four regulations are the presidential regulation No. 63 Year 2015 on the maritime affairs and fisheries ministry, the Law No 32 Year 2014 on Maritime, the Law No 45 Year 2009 on Fisheries, and the Presidential Regulation No. 178 Year 2015 on the Maritime Security Agency.

If the situation is not rectified by the Jokowi Administration, the consequences would be, among other things, a clash of interest among certain maritime law enforcement institutions and wastage of budget used by similar institutions. Besides, fishermen would become the victims of regulations that are not in their interest.

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