REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CILACAP -- Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti stated that Indonesian President Joko Widodo is committed to making the sea the future of the nation.

"Indonesian ocean can no longer be restricted per plot," she noted at the Port of Ocean Fisheries in Cilacap district, Central Java province, on Monday.

She remarked that the current government program includes fair policies to support equity.

Therefore, she called on all local government officials, ministries, and law enforcement agencies to ensure justice and equity.

Furthermore, she called for the implementation of a sustainable fisheries management.

"No person can make a ship without rules, including the requirements of fishing gear and its size. People should no longer make vessels that do not match the size listed on the ship's licensing data. This should be investigated," she underlined.

Therefore, she asked the officers responsible to confirm the licenses of the ships that sail in the sea.

She explained that if a ship is 30 gross tones (GT) volume based on licensing data but, in fact, reaches 100 GT, then it should not sail in the sea.

"It should be re-measured," she stated.

Pudjiastuti revealed that the fishery sector cannot contribute to the state finance as far as many ship owners change and enlarge the size of the ships without permission, including using data that do not match the size mentioned in the licensing data.

"I ask the authorities to immediately consolidate. If the ship owners do not want to fix the size of their ships, they must not go to sea," she reiterated.

In addition, she stated that the tax payment of large ships should also be done properly.

According to her, the vessels with volume from and below 10 GT were already exempt from taxes and did not need to make the permits to go fishing again.

She claimed to have received many complaints that ships with size below 10 GT still had to obtain a Letter of Properness to Operate.

"From now on, they no longer need a Letter of Properness to Operate. Actually from Nov 7, 2014, the vessels with volume from and below 10 GT no longer need to obtain various permits to go fishing, and the ship owners just need to do a one-time registration," she explained.

In addition, she said the vessels with volume from and above 30 GT should not get subsidized diesel again.

According to her, all of those issues had to be settled by the authorities, especially officers of the Directorate General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Control in Cilacap district.

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