KKP Seizes 2 Philippine-flagged Fishing Vessels In The Sulawesi Sea

ANTARA/Acting Director General of Marine and Fishery Resources Supervision Antam Novambar

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) arrested two foreign fishing vessels with the Philippine flag, which were illegally fishing in the Sulawesi Sea waters.

"We have confirmed the arrest of one purse seine and pumboat," said Antam's Acting Director-General of Marine and Fishery Resources, Novambar, AS quoted by Antara, Friday, May 28.

Antam, who is also the Secretary-General of the KKP, said that the operation of the Shark Patrol Vessel 15, which was led by Captain Priyo Kurniawan on May 24, 2021, made the arrests of two vessels, namely the FB GENEVIEVE (with a weight of 85 gross tonnage/GT) which operates the purse seine. While the FBCa. GIE 2 (with a weight of 9 GT) which operates handline tuna fishing gear.

"In addition to the ship and other evidence, we have detained a total of 27 Filipino crew members," Antam said.

The ship and the entire crew are already at the Bitung PSDKP Base to undergo further examination and legal proceedings.

The KKP Fleet Monitoring and Operations Director Pung Nugroho Saksono or commonly called Ipunk, directly led the implementation of the operation and said that this was the first arrest of an illegal fishing vessel from the Philippines in 2021.

Ipunk explained that it has been a long time since no purse seine vessels entered the waters of the Sulawesi Sea, especially since the GENEVIEVE FB is quite large, namely 85 GT.

Therefore, his party instructed his staff to increase their vigilance and carry out operations in areas prone to illegal fishing.

"We have instructed that vigilance be increased, and remain alert to maintain the sovereignty of fisheries management in WPPNRI," said Ipunk.

Throughout 2021, KKP has arrested 94 vessels consisting of 70 Indonesian fishing vessels violating the provisions and 24 foreign fishing vessels stealing fish (6 Malaysian-flagged vessels, 2 Philippine-flagged vessels, and 16 Vietnamese-flagged vessels).