35 Minutes Full Of Tension, Shark 03 Hunts 2 Illegal Fishing Boats From Malaysia In The Straits Of Malacca

Fishing boat with trawl fishing gear secured (Photo: ANTARA/HO-KKP)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) crippled two illegal foreign fishing vessels from Malaysia that used non-environmentally friendly fishing gear or trawler. The arrests occurred in the waters of the Malacca Strait, the territory of the Republic of Indonesia.

"We confirmed the arrest of two Malaysian-flagged illegal foreign fishing vessels last weekend at WPPNRI (Republic of Indonesia Fisheries Management Region) 571 Malacca Strait," said Acting Director General of Marine and Fishery Resources Supervision (PSDKP) KKP, Antam Novambar in a press release here Jakarta, Antara, Thursday, July 22.

The arrest of the illegal Malaysian ship with the name KHF 1764 was carried out by the Shark Fishery Supervision Ship 03, which was captained by Yohanes Tielung in the Indonesian continental shelf area on 17 July.

Meanwhile, another ship with the name SLFA 5124 was captured by Shark Watching Ship 01, which is commanded by Essing, near the waters of Bagan Readyiapi on July 18.

"One of our ships is ad hoc to the Batam PSDKP Base while the other ship is to the Belawan PSDKP Station," Antam said.

In the video documentation submitted to the media crew, the arrest of the vessel was carried out after a fishing vessel from Malaysia tried to escape by continuing to carry out dangerous maneuvers in order to escape from the Fisheries Supervision Vessel of the Directorate General of PSDKP KKP.

In addition, it was also seen that the trawler fishing gear was still in the water and was used to hinder the arrests made by the officers.

"This illegal foreign ship tried to run, accelerated at high speed, this ship also blocked us with ropes and fishing gear, we chased for almost 35 minutes and finally we managed to paralyze it," said Director of Fleet Monitoring and Operations, Pung Nugroho Saksono.

Pung Nugroho emphasized that the officers of the Directorate General of PSDKP KKP remain on standby and continue to carry out surveillance at sea, including in the period of implementing PPKM. This is done to be aware of the theft of fish carried out by taking advantage of the pandemic.

With the arrest of two illegal foreign vessels, KKP has arrested 124 vessels during 2021. Consisting of 81 Indonesian fishing vessels violating the provisions, 43 foreign fishing vessels stealing fish; 14 Malaysian-flagged vessels, 6 Philippine-flagged vessels and 23 Vietnamese-flagged vessels.