Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Seizes 1 Malaysian Fishing Vessel And 6 Indonesian Vessels

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) arrested as many as one foreign vessels from Malaysia and six Indonesian fishing vessels that violated the provisions in the implementation of fishing in Indonesian fisheries management areas.

"We caught another Malaysian fishing boat in the Malacca Strait on Wednesday, December 8 while six Indonesian vessels were secured in the Java Sea and Kupang Bay", said Director General of Marine and Fishery Resources Supervision of the KKP, Adin Nurawaluddin, in a press release, Friday, December 10.

He said the arrests were consecutive arrests made by the KKP in the last week, and further emphasized the KKP's commitment to preserving marine and fishery resources to implement the blue economy program.

One Malaysian vessel was caught by the Shark Surveillance Ship 08, while five Indonesian fishing vessels were caught by the Shark Surveillance Vessel 04 and one Indonesian fishing vessel was caught by the Napoleon Watcher Vessel 054.

"This arrest reaffirms the policy of Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono that we have zero tolerance for illegal fishing, both by foreign fishing vessels and Indonesian fishing vessels", said Adin.

Meanwhile, Director of Monitoring and Fleet Operations Pung Nugroho Saksono said that one Malaysian-flagged fishing boat was caught while fishing with a trawler.

Pung Nugroho Saksono explained that the ship with the name PKFB 1749 was crewed by five people with Myanmar citizenship. "Currently, the ship has been ad hoc to the Belawan PSDKP Base for further legal proceedings", he said.

In addition to catching foreign fishing vessels, officials from the Directorate General of PSDKP KKP also secured one Indonesian fishing vessel KM Kupang Jaya 1 using trawler at WPPNRI 573 Teluk Kupang and five Indonesian fishing vessels operating Cantrang fishing gear in WPPNRI 712 Java Sea.

The five fishing vessels are KM Kota Baru, KM Spotos, KM Mutiara Indah, KM Pahala Kencana and KM Maju Jaya. "The ships operate using prohibited fishing gear and the 5 Cantrang ships also without the required documents", he explained.

To oversee the blue economy program and measurable fishing, the ranks of the Directorate General of PSDKP will control foreign fishing vessels and Indonesian vessels operating illegally or not according to regulations.

Based on KKP data, from 2021 to the latest arrest, a total of 163 fishing vessels have been caught, consisting of 111 Indonesian fishing vessels that violated the law and 52 foreign fishing vessels that carried out the theft. There were also foreign fishing vessels caught, consisting of 25 vessels from Vietnam, 21 vessels from Malaysia, and 6 vessels from the Philippines.