KKP Captures Two Foreign Fishing Vessels With Philippine Flags, Saves Potential Loss Of IDR 31.6 Billion

Director General of Supervision of Marine and Fishery Resources (PSDKP) KKP Pung Nugroho Saksono or Ipunk. Photo: Theresia Agatha/VOI

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) managed to capture two foreign fishing vessels (KIA) with the Philippine flag which are suspected of carrying out illegal fishing activities (illegal fishing) in the Sulawesi Sea area, on Monday, June 16.

Through this operation, the potential loss that was saved reached Rp31.6 billion.

The arrest was made by the Directorate General of Marine and Fishery Resources Supervision (PSDKP) of the KKP after receiving a report from a group of supervisory communities who suspected the existence of foreign ships in Indonesian waters.

"If we carry out a calculational evaluation, we have succeeded in saving state losses of Rp31.6 billion from these two ships," said PSDKP Director General Pung Nugroho Saksono or Ipunk at a press conference at his office, Wednesday, June 18.

Ipunk explained that the foreign fishing boat operation was carried out on June 16, 2025 and managed to secure two ships along with 17 crew members (ABK) from the Philippines.

The two vessels arrested were FB. ANNIE GRACE with a size of 65.22 gross tons (GT) using a pure seine fishing device and a 31 GT LPI-2 support vessel that functions as a light boat.

According to Ipunk, the success of the operation was the result of the coordination of two monitoring bases, namely PSDKP Bitung and PSDKP Tahuna.

He considered that the Sulawesi Sea area was indeed rich in fishery resources, especially tuna, so that it became an easy target of fishing theft by foreign vessels, especially from the Philippines.

"We deliberately involved the two UPT heads to protect each other's territory because this is a sexy area, where the tuna is large and there are many there," explained Ipunk.