Indonesia detains Filipino, Malaysian fishing boats over poaching

FILE: The Strait of Malacca as viewed from the city of Malacca, Malaysia. (Photo by Not home at en.wikipedia – Not home 21:23, 7 May 2007 (UTC), Public Domain)

JAKARTA – Patrol ships of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries’ (KKP’s) Directorate General for Supervision of Maritime Resources and Fisheries (PSDKP) detained a Filipino fishing boat and Malaysian fishing vessel for poaching in Indonesian waters.

“The KKP’s patrol boats have succeeded in detaining two vessels found poaching in the Fisheries Management Area (WPP) 571 in the waters of Malacca Strait and WPP 716 in Sulawesi Sea. The two vessels were seized on Tuesday (June 16),” Director General of Maritime Resources and Fisheries Supervision Tb Haeru Rahayu said Wednesday.

The first arrest was made by the ministry’s patrol boat, Hiu 15, led by Capt. Hendro Andaria of a Philippine-flagged fishing vessel in the Sangihe waters near Marore Island for conducting illegal fishing activities.

M/Bca SOFIA of the Philippines had on board five Filipino crew members.

The ship, using tuna hand line fishing gear, was detained at the coordinates of 04 ° 47.265 ‘ northern latitude and – 124 ° 41.095’ eastern longitude.

“The Philippine-flagged ship was taken to the PSDKP Tahuna Station for legal proceedings,” he stated.

At another location, patrol boat Hiu 01, led by Albert Essing, detained a Malaysian-flagged fishing vessel SLFA 5070, with four Malaysian crew members onboard.

The ship using bamboo fishing gear was detained at the coordinates of 02 ° 44.918 ” northern latitude and 101 ° 100.788″ eastern longitude.

Since October 2019, Indonesia had detained 47 foreign fishing vessels for poaching in Indonesian waters.

The 47 vessels comprised 20 Vietnam-flagged vessels, 14 Philippine-flagged boats, 12 Malaysian-flagged vessels, and one Taiwanese-flagged boat.

 (ANTARA)