ID :
130406
Tue, 06/29/2010 - 15:37
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https://oananews.org//node/130406
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News Focus: FOREIGN POACHERS STILL OPERATING IN WATERS OFF N SUMATRA
By Eliswan Azly
Jakarta, June 29 (ANTARA) - The Mallaca Strait which serves as an international route between the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian seas turns out to be an area where illegal fishing by foreign boats is rife.
The executive board of the North Sumatra Fishermen's Association has asked ,marine security personnel to pay closer attention to and curb the activities of foreign fishing boats still illegally operating in waters off North Sumatra's coast, Ihya Ulumuddin, the association's secretary, said in Medan Tuesday.
Many foreign fishing boats were poaching in the waters off North Sumatra province in particular and other provinces in Sumatra in general, he said.
Ihya said the waters off the North Sumatra coast are part of yhe Malacca Strait which is one of the world's busiest waterways. The foreign poachers never take notice of the business sealine and in fact they continue being spotted conducting illegal fishing in the waters.
The illegal operations of foreign fishing boats were causing great losses to traditional fishermen as proven by the fact that the latter's catches were declining significantly, Ilyas said.
Usually local fishermen's catches were quite good, reaching 60 to 80 kilograms per day per fisherman, but following the illegal operations of foreign fishermen their catches now reached only 30 to 40 kilograms per day.
"The problem is that most of the fishing areas of the local fishermen are now already controlled by foreign fishermen with their sophisticated fishing gear," Ulumuddin said.
He said according to reports from local fishermen from Batubara District on North Sumatra's eastern coast, foreign fishermen were often found fishing illegally in the province's waters.
Recently, he added, two Malaysian fishing boats were caught by the police while illegally fishing near Pandan Island waters in Batubara district, North Sumatra.
The police arrested 8 crew members who were of Thai nationality, in addition to several tons of fish as evidence. The boat's shipper was a Malaysian.
The foreign fishing boat was currently being held at Belawan port and the case was still being legally processed by the North Sumatra water police authorities.
With regard to the increasing cases of illegal fishing activity in Indonesian waters, the Indonesian government is to install a number of radars in the waters as a wayout to prevent possible encroachments by foreign vessels into Indonesian waters.
Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said his ministry would provide the two waters starting from Ambalat in East Kalimantan to Tahuna in North Sulawesi as well as in Mallaca strait with the radars.
Such illegal fishing cases in waters off North Sumatra is not as big as those often found in the waters of Ambalat in East Kalimantan and that of Nahuna and therefore the installation of radars to monitor the movements of ships passing these waters is on the list of priorities, the minister said.
If possible, all waters of Indonesia would be covered by such facilities as radars to enable security agencies to watch over the activities of illegal poachers, but the government will have to provide the radars step by step.
According to him, the procurement of the radars was a priority of the defense ministry which should be realized soon, he said, adding that the radars in the Malacca Strait covered the territorial waters in the waterway, so that all passing ships could be detected.
"When the installation of the radar system in the two waters has been completed, we will be able to monitor all ship movements in our waters," the minister said.
"In the past, 12 radars were installed to monitor the Malacca Strait enabling us to detect ships passing through the waterway," he said.
The radars that would be built in North Sulawesi`s waters were part of the country`s efforts to ensure security in areas sharing borders with neighboring countries.
The waters in North Sulawesi are prone to various crimes such as arms smuggling, terrorism, fish poaching and waste disposal.
In the meantime, Said Nizar, an expert on international law of the Hassanuddin University said if the waters along the Mallaca Strait had been provided 12 radars was still rampent to illegal fishing by foreign boats.
Who is to be blamed in this case, he said adding that there was one possibility was that the waters off North Sumatra had yet to be installed with a radar and therefore illegal fishing activity could not be monitored effectively and perhaps, those working at the radars unit failed to monitor foreign poachers.
"If it's the case, it is not a guaranty that the installation of radars in the waters of Ambalat and Tahuna in North Sumatra will be able to reduce illegal fishing rate by foreign poachers in Indonesia with the active participation of waters police and navy is still poor," he said.
However, he believed that the installation of radars in the two waters will help the security to easily monitor and bring foreign poacher to justice. If possible, the whole waters of Indonesia should be provided with the radars as a wayout to monitor possible illegal fishing activity.
Indonesian waters are prone to illegal fishing activity with a total loss of over five billion dollar in a year. "We have to save our waters from possible theft perpetuated by foreign poachers," he said.
The installation of radars on the two waters could adopt the system already applied by Indonesia and Singapore in boosting efforts to avoid a terrorist attack on ships passing through the world`s busiest waterway, he said.
In response to many foreign poachers operating in waters North Sumatra and Aceh who often went unpunished, Vice Governor of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) Muhammad Nazar called on authorities of neighboring countries not to mistreat or punish Acehnese fishermen caught in their waters because they had not entered foreign waters on purpose.
Many of traditional and small wooden boats operated by Achenese traditional fishermen were carried by the sea current to the waters of neighboring countries after having engine troubles.
"That's why, he hope that authorities of neighboring country not to mistreat or punish those traditional fishermen, as they don't have any intention to enter the waters of another country," Nazar said.
If compared to the capture of many foreign poachers by Indonesian navy, many of them use modern boats and illegally steal Indonesian fish in a big quantity for their commercial purposes.
Traditional fishermen from Aceh who entered into the waters of a neighboring was inseparable from engine trouble with their boat after being dragged by sea current, while foreign poachers entered Indonesian waters just aimed to steal the fish in a big quantity, he said.
Jakarta, June 29 (ANTARA) - The Mallaca Strait which serves as an international route between the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian seas turns out to be an area where illegal fishing by foreign boats is rife.
The executive board of the North Sumatra Fishermen's Association has asked ,marine security personnel to pay closer attention to and curb the activities of foreign fishing boats still illegally operating in waters off North Sumatra's coast, Ihya Ulumuddin, the association's secretary, said in Medan Tuesday.
Many foreign fishing boats were poaching in the waters off North Sumatra province in particular and other provinces in Sumatra in general, he said.
Ihya said the waters off the North Sumatra coast are part of yhe Malacca Strait which is one of the world's busiest waterways. The foreign poachers never take notice of the business sealine and in fact they continue being spotted conducting illegal fishing in the waters.
The illegal operations of foreign fishing boats were causing great losses to traditional fishermen as proven by the fact that the latter's catches were declining significantly, Ilyas said.
Usually local fishermen's catches were quite good, reaching 60 to 80 kilograms per day per fisherman, but following the illegal operations of foreign fishermen their catches now reached only 30 to 40 kilograms per day.
"The problem is that most of the fishing areas of the local fishermen are now already controlled by foreign fishermen with their sophisticated fishing gear," Ulumuddin said.
He said according to reports from local fishermen from Batubara District on North Sumatra's eastern coast, foreign fishermen were often found fishing illegally in the province's waters.
Recently, he added, two Malaysian fishing boats were caught by the police while illegally fishing near Pandan Island waters in Batubara district, North Sumatra.
The police arrested 8 crew members who were of Thai nationality, in addition to several tons of fish as evidence. The boat's shipper was a Malaysian.
The foreign fishing boat was currently being held at Belawan port and the case was still being legally processed by the North Sumatra water police authorities.
With regard to the increasing cases of illegal fishing activity in Indonesian waters, the Indonesian government is to install a number of radars in the waters as a wayout to prevent possible encroachments by foreign vessels into Indonesian waters.
Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said his ministry would provide the two waters starting from Ambalat in East Kalimantan to Tahuna in North Sulawesi as well as in Mallaca strait with the radars.
Such illegal fishing cases in waters off North Sumatra is not as big as those often found in the waters of Ambalat in East Kalimantan and that of Nahuna and therefore the installation of radars to monitor the movements of ships passing these waters is on the list of priorities, the minister said.
If possible, all waters of Indonesia would be covered by such facilities as radars to enable security agencies to watch over the activities of illegal poachers, but the government will have to provide the radars step by step.
According to him, the procurement of the radars was a priority of the defense ministry which should be realized soon, he said, adding that the radars in the Malacca Strait covered the territorial waters in the waterway, so that all passing ships could be detected.
"When the installation of the radar system in the two waters has been completed, we will be able to monitor all ship movements in our waters," the minister said.
"In the past, 12 radars were installed to monitor the Malacca Strait enabling us to detect ships passing through the waterway," he said.
The radars that would be built in North Sulawesi`s waters were part of the country`s efforts to ensure security in areas sharing borders with neighboring countries.
The waters in North Sulawesi are prone to various crimes such as arms smuggling, terrorism, fish poaching and waste disposal.
In the meantime, Said Nizar, an expert on international law of the Hassanuddin University said if the waters along the Mallaca Strait had been provided 12 radars was still rampent to illegal fishing by foreign boats.
Who is to be blamed in this case, he said adding that there was one possibility was that the waters off North Sumatra had yet to be installed with a radar and therefore illegal fishing activity could not be monitored effectively and perhaps, those working at the radars unit failed to monitor foreign poachers.
"If it's the case, it is not a guaranty that the installation of radars in the waters of Ambalat and Tahuna in North Sumatra will be able to reduce illegal fishing rate by foreign poachers in Indonesia with the active participation of waters police and navy is still poor," he said.
However, he believed that the installation of radars in the two waters will help the security to easily monitor and bring foreign poacher to justice. If possible, the whole waters of Indonesia should be provided with the radars as a wayout to monitor possible illegal fishing activity.
Indonesian waters are prone to illegal fishing activity with a total loss of over five billion dollar in a year. "We have to save our waters from possible theft perpetuated by foreign poachers," he said.
The installation of radars on the two waters could adopt the system already applied by Indonesia and Singapore in boosting efforts to avoid a terrorist attack on ships passing through the world`s busiest waterway, he said.
In response to many foreign poachers operating in waters North Sumatra and Aceh who often went unpunished, Vice Governor of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) Muhammad Nazar called on authorities of neighboring countries not to mistreat or punish Acehnese fishermen caught in their waters because they had not entered foreign waters on purpose.
Many of traditional and small wooden boats operated by Achenese traditional fishermen were carried by the sea current to the waters of neighboring countries after having engine troubles.
"That's why, he hope that authorities of neighboring country not to mistreat or punish those traditional fishermen, as they don't have any intention to enter the waters of another country," Nazar said.
If compared to the capture of many foreign poachers by Indonesian navy, many of them use modern boats and illegally steal Indonesian fish in a big quantity for their commercial purposes.
Traditional fishermen from Aceh who entered into the waters of a neighboring was inseparable from engine trouble with their boat after being dragged by sea current, while foreign poachers entered Indonesian waters just aimed to steal the fish in a big quantity, he said.
