INDONESIA CONTINUES TO SINK ILLEGAL SHIPS TO PROTECT MARINE RESOURCES

Jakarta, May 20 (Antara) -- Indonesia has continued to sink vessels caught fishing illegally in the country's waters to protect its marine resources. Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Susi Pudjiastuti said here on Wednesday that 41 more ships had been sunk that day for this very purpose. "We carried out the judicial processes of the cases that involved these 41 foreign ships," she stated in her office. The minister hopes that by protecting the country's marine and fisheries resources, the welfare of the country's traditional fishermen will improve. Moreover, the harsh policy is needed also to uphold Indonesia's sovereignty against foreign fish poachers that trespass into the country's territory while carrying out their operations, Pudjiastuti remarked. The ships sunk on Wednesday were from a number of Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. She revealed that they had been sunk in various locations. While 11 ships had been sunk in Bitung, North Sulawesi, 6 vessels had been taken down in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. Furthermore, Director General of Fisheries and Marine Resources Surveillance Asep Burhanudin noted that till April 29 this year, his office had processed 62 cases of fish poaching that involved 28 Indonesian vessels and 34 foreign ships. He added that most of the 34 foreign ships---as many as 19 of them---were Vietnamese, while seven of them were from the Philippines and four each from Thailand and Malaysia.